Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
In our lives, we have too much. We struggle not to eat too much, not to overload our lives with business, not too fill our lives with too many things. Unconsciously, we often seek comfort in our things. Sometimes we use them to dull the body; other times we use them to distract us from being still. We attempt to find solace in gifts instead of the Giver. This is the temptation to be full.
Perhaps one of the reasons the season we are in today feels surreal, is because we are actually feeling hunger pains. The right hunger pains. We hunger to gather together. We hunger to worship together. We hunger to serve and make a difference. It is easy for us human beings to take things for granted. Sometimes the only way for us to truly value something is to experience having it taken away. That’s when the hunger grows.
While we should always endeavor to live fully in today – and not be overly fixated on the tomorrows – all of this tells me that God is doing something. Because in the coming weeks the hunger will grow. And when we finally will reunite in person as the Body, the passion will be rekindled anew. A new season will be upon us, and a good one at that. Or to put it another way, we shall have a taste of what it means not to have a misplaced comfort – but to experience what Jesus meant when He said we shall “be filled.”
Father, may our hunger for You deepen with each passing day. May we be so hungry for the right things that we never let them go.
This is the season of Lent Father. Help us embrace the cross now, so that we will be ready for new life on Easter. In the name of the Messiah, Jesus. Amen.