Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be
filled.
Here
comes the cool thing concerning the HATAR diet, or seeking those things above;
unlike physical consumptions, eating and drinking have no limitations in the spiritual realm, suggested by the present
tense of the participles. We can eat and drink as much righteousness as we want (2 Pet 3:18; Hos 14:5; Mal 4:2; Col 1:10;
2 Thes 1:3); in other words, we are encouraged to go fat for God, spiritually
speaking!
There
is no overindulgence in pursuing Christlikeness, none whatsoever. You never
gain any weight; you never run the risk of poor health through
over-consumption! Incidentally, spiritual dieting is unwise and discouraged
because it is unhealthy and dangerous to our spiritual health!
You
know what lean spiritual dieting is all about; it is the notion that we can get
by without the Word of God or keeping it to a minimum by managing our spiritual
growth on our own (cf. Jdg 21:25; Prov 14:12). This is the mentality that
rationalizes, “We have gotten this far without (God’s authoritative Word); why start now?” Oh,
make no mistake, these self-ascribed believers make claim to believe in the Bible, marginal as that is, but they
just don’t read or apply it unless it suits their fancy or lifestyle view.
American Christianity is fraught with such.
You
can take this bountiful diet of Christlikeness and run with it as fast and as
far as your heart desires; the sky is the limit! You can be as much like Jesus as
you want! Jesus is the object and goal of our growth (Eph 4:15), as well as,
the Source of it (Eph 4:16). This is self-development (taking personal
responsibility for spiritual growth) in Christ that reaches out and extends to
every area of our life on a daily basis, becoming more like Him every minute
with every ounce of our being. No one can do this for us, and we most certainly
cannot do it without God’s help which is where walking in the Spirit comes into
play (Gal 5:16).
This
becoming like Christ is a lifetime pursuit until the Lord takes us home to be
with Him in glory (1 Jn 3:2-3); in other words, the HATAR diet, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, never stops this side of
eternity (cf. Eph 4:13). If there is a tapering off in pursuing the things of
God along the way, we have lost our appetite due to some personal distraction.
We can blame no one for this or use another to excuse our actions or lack
thereof. Whenever we choose to exchange the Lord’s table (Psa 23:5) for the
world’s delicacies (1 Jn 2:16), we will always suffer from spiritual anemia and
invite all of its attended consequences.
It
takes diet and exercise to be physically healthy, but it also works in the
spiritual realm as well. Ironically, we consume the Word of God and exercise
godly principles in our lives not to lose weight but to give more weight
to our testimony in magnifying Christ!
Spiritual
malnutrition in a believer is evident to all discerning believers: fellowship
with God and His family are broken, loss of the peace of God, increased
coldness towards the things of God, and slowly drifting away from Him, the church,
and His saints. Thoughts, words, and deeds take on a more worldly style than
being spiritually attuned to the Word.
In
short, we are out of sync with God and other believers. These are just some of
the characteristics of poor spiritual health. How can we obey the first and
second commands by eating the garbage that the world considers delicacies (1 Jn
2:16-17a)? No fleshly menu leads to becoming more like Christ (cf. 2 Pet
3:18)!
If
sincere questions about your spiritual health get you easily bent out of shape,
this could be the result of spiritual anemia, banqueting on unrighteousness.
Getting offended or defensive at the drop of a hat is a telltale sign of
getting caught, spiritually speaking, with your hand in the carnal jar. People
get hit between the eyes on some spiritual truth and inevitably they wonder how
it became known. There is an old saying
that when you throw a rock into a pack of dogs you know which one got hit; the
one that yelps the loudest. Usually, this yelping comes in the form of, “How
dare you to judge me!”
The
Word of God is not seeking to entertain us but to edify, counsel, and help us,
even in times of chastening, to be like Christ for the glory of God. We all
need to live the Word-driven life: learn the Word, love the Word, and live the
Word on a continual and consistent basis. There is no place, person, or thing
that can ever replace prayer, reading, studying, meditating, memorizing, and
applying the Word of God to every area of living.
Christlikeness
is not achieved apart from the Word (cf. Psa 119:11); this is the spiritual
counterpart to good physical health through the right kind of diet and
exercise. It cannot be stressed enough of the vital importance of the Word in
our lives (Rom 12:1-2; 2 Tim 3:16-17). The Holy Spirit will not call to mind
what is not in the heart tank during a crisis. This is why so many succumb to
temptations or accuse God unfairly because they have little of the Word in their
heart.
I
had received this email from a restaurant chain on one of my birthdays wishing
me a happy birthday by giving me $5 off any $20 food purchase. Now, that was a
nice gesture, but the best gift to me was what they said in their e-card,
“You’re not getting
older; you’re just getting hungrier.”
This
was clever, but I got something out of it that was completely different than what they intended; I’m sure of it. That catchy
clause served as a reminder to me spiritually,
“You’re not getting
older; you’re just getting hungrier for the things of God.”
As I get older, am I getting hungrier for the person and work of God? Is this true of you or are you just content with where you are spiritually in Christ? Spiritual growth has a certain impetus that never loses momentum because it is driven by agape (love, Jn 14:15; 1 Cor 13:1, 2, 3) that causes a follower of Christ to constantly move forward and to possess a glow of spiritual healthiness (not the glow from a cell phone) which is hard to ignore by others, literally, walking in the light; our diet will be seen by others (Mt 5:14-16).
I
refer to it as a look of “having been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). You can tell
when people are in the Word, particularly when they open their mouths! Taking
care of our bodies is important as responsible stewards (1 Cor 6:19); it is the only way we stick around and get around, but we can’t get a better and more
important look than having been with
Jesus from a HATAR diet, regardless of our physical appearance.
Remember
Jesus’ words on the Mount, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness: for they shall be filled (Mt 5:6, KJV).
The
promise of those who are continually or habitually hungering and thirsting
after righteous is this, for they shall be filled, and that’s a promise (the mood is future). Filled (voice is passive) is predicated
on those who have a continual craving and thirsting after righteousness; God
will satisfy the spiritual hunger and thirst of those who desire righteousness
in their lives.
The verb filled has reference to feeding or fattening cattle; this is where I got the idea of going fat for Yahweh (cf. Mal 4:2)! With spiritual feasting, gone are the counting of calories, getting on the weight scale, measuring waistlines, or changing wardrobes, watching out for sugar and salt and carbs, etc! The fatter the better! When it comes to soul food throw away your spiritual pills; quit the spiritual injections; cancel that surgery for they are not needed here!
Once
born again, our standard of living is Christ now, not the world any longer;
we belong to Him! Such a diet of renewing the mind is unfashionable according
to Paul (Rom 12:2, the Greek word translated “conformed” is the same Greek word
rendered, “fashioning” (1 Pet 1:14, KJV). Christlikeness is always an
unfashionable statement to the world. So, what is preventing us from getting
spiritually “fat for God?” Why would we want to continue to partake in harmful
delicacies of the world anyway?
Ever
fill your belly with candy as a kid and by supper time you weren’t hungry? We
couldn’t live on a steady diet of candy. Some things satisfy, but in the end,
they are very unhealthy for us. I remember reading a story long ago of
survivors shipwrecked by a storm on some uninhabited island. They found plenty
to eat, but eventually, they all died of starvation!
When
the bodies were found their stomachs were full, but what they were eating had
no nutritional value. Kind of creepy, yes?
Are we hungering and thirsting after things of the world that have no spiritual
nutritional value? Are we starving ourselves to death spiritually waiting for
Christ to return?
Blessed [or happy] are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. If this is not your desire, I can declare with
biblical authority that you are not truly happy. It is plain that God our
Creator hardwired happiness to holiness (cf. Psa 1:1-3). That holiness is based
on the character of God and articulated in His Word. No attempt of rewiring has
ever produced the kind of happiness apart from God’s standard of righteousness –
Jesus Christ. You can look the world over, but true happiness is only found in Yahweh
and delighting in His Word and doing His will; they go hand in hand: Yahweh,
Word, and His will.
So,
what are we filling our hearts with today, the Word or the world? Jesus or
junk? The former makes us look like a spiritually fatted calf, full of life, nutritionally satisfied, and trusting in Yahweh. The latter reveals that we are munching on
the things of the world; we are unhappy, stressed, suffering from spiritual malnutrition, dissatisfied, discouraged, depressed, and trusting in self, carnal.
To
hunger and thirst after righteousness (HATAR) leads to spiritual healthiness
and genuine happiness. How do we convince an unbeliever that apart from
Christ, prestige, power, and possessions ultimately lead to unhappiness,
emptiness, and futility? By hungering and thirsting to be like Christ and working the Word in our lives, others can see there is something different about us from the herd mentality: Christ in us, the hope of glory.
Solomon
revealed in Ecclesiastes that he found no purpose or positives in living
horizontally. How do you convince a believer that while his or her head is
stuck in the troughs of the world eating swill? You shouldn’t have to for something is
seriously wrong with that scenario. We will leave the convincing to the Holy
Spirit, yes?
Have you ever experienced
what Jeremiah did concerning the Word of God?
“Your words were found, and I ate them, and
Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your
name, O LORD God of hosts” (15:16).
We
need to diet and exercise sensibly for physical health. Do you have the kind of
spiritual appetite that Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:6,
HATAR)? Is your spiritual growth determined by feelings or thinking? Is
there a continual craving in your heart for personal righteousness or are you
torn between godliness and the things of the world?
The
HATAR diet leads to Christlikeness and the exercising of godliness in what we
think, say, and do for the glory of God. The world produces just the opposite
effect. Genuine happiness is really a choice of consumption: the things of God
or the things of the world. It is wiser to be physically broken and spiritually
healthy than the other way around. But both are important but the latter more.
“For bodily exercise
profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of
the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1 Tim 4:8).
God's righteousness will fill those who seek it; i.e., it will satisfy their hunger and thirst for a right relationship with God (MacArthur). Jesus promised satisfaction, to be fully satisfied, for they shall be filled [like a fatted calf]. The best way in going fat for God is the HATAR diet; it will revolutionize our spiritual life and outlook by bringing balance to knowing and doing God’s will for our life; it is the pathway to spiritual health and happiness.
Every
born again believer that I know wants to spend eternity with Jesus. The problem
is many Christians are content while on earth to be less not more like Him
until they are raptured or die and receive the full benefits package! Are you
one of those? Thin may be in but going fat for God is where it’s at! <><
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