Cravings

What do you crave? What is it that you can't wait to have. Maybe you have felt like you were starving and couldn't wait to eat (we hear this frequently at our house, even though they have no clue even what being really hunger is like); maybe it is being married and all that provides; maybe it is for a sleek, new ______ (fill in the blank with the latest technological wonder, toy, car, whatever); maybe it is sweets or a beer. The thing is you know what it means to crave something. The thing that hit me this weekend is that we are suppose to crave righteousness like that. In Matthew 5:6 it says "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." All of those other things that we crave, don't totally satisfy us. Oh, they may for a period of time, but they don't fully satisfy us. I don't know about you but I don't often think about craving righteousness. Maybe when I felt I've been wronged, but even then righteousness probably doesn't best describe what I want. What does someone who hungers for righteousness look like? Righteousness is one of those words we want to make harder than it is. To me righteousness boils down to doing the next right thing. We want to argue and debate what the next right thing is. If we make it hard enough to accomplish or understand then we can justify not doing anything. So what does someone who is pursuing righteousness look like... maybe content? When we have done what we know to be right, we are content. We don't have to rationalize our actions or worry that we will be caught shading the truth. Righteousness, though not always easy to live out because of selfishness, is very satisfying. Try it for a day or if you are really brave a week. Hunger for righteousness and doing that next right thing. It may be a challenging week, but I bet it will be more satisfying than the latest "thing" you are currently craving.