Understanding the Beatitudes: A Pathway to Spiritual Fulfillment

Week 4, Day 1

Empty Buckets

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Matthew 5:6

Think about the last time you went to the beach. Before you made the trip, there was a lot to do. Pick out a bathing suit. Find the sunscreen. Ice down drinks in the cooler. Get towels for everyone. And depending on the age of those going with you, you probably packed toys for building a sandcastle, including a bucket. 

Now, picture that bucket in your mind. It’s red or green or blue or orange. Or maybe pink. It’s tall with straight sides or short and stout. Or maybe it’s medium sized with a design in the bottom that will form the perfect tower for your sandcastle. It has a small shovel attached that is cracked from the last time you used it to dig wet sand, so you bring along a stronger shovel that can do the job. One last detail about your bucket: it’s empty. 

Empty. That’s right: empty. Isn’t it? It must be. After all, who brings a full bucket to the beach? It would be so strange to dig in your backyard, fill your bucket with topsoil, load the bucket up with all your beach supplies so you could play with the dirt from home rather than the abundance of beautiful sand around you. 

So it is with the kingdom of God. It would be so strange to try to live on the shore of God’s presence, where the sand of righteousness is abundant, while playing with a bucket filled with the dirt of sin from this world. In fact, it would be foolish and would not lead to life. There’s only one way to come into the kingdom of God. Your bucket must be empty, ready for God to fill. 

Father, I have nothing to offer. My bucket is empty. Fill it with righteousness for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ.

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Week 4, Day 2

Coming Up Short

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Matthew 5:6

It’s Saturday morning. The house is filled with wonderful things: the sound of bacon frying, the scent of coffee brewing, the sight of ingredients ready to be transformed into pancakes. You’re so excited! You love pancakes. There are things to be added into your pancakes: strawberries, blueberries, chocolate chips, pecans. There are things to top your pancakes: butter, syrup, powdered sugar, jam. There are ingredients to make the pancake batter: eggs, oil, milk. You’re getting hungrier by the minute.

It’s time to mix the batter and flip some flapjacks. Only you’re out of flour. Completely out. You could have pancakes without butter. You could have pancakes without syrup. You could have pancakes without fruit. But you can’t have pancakes without flour. You’re left hungry. 

That’s sort of how life is, spiritually speaking. You look around the world and there are lots of things that catch our attention: sunny days at the beach, baseball games with friends, road trips with family. But the thing that is essential to life—real, eternal life—is righteousness.

When you look around, you find righteousness—things being done in God’s way according to God’s will—is missing. You can live without beach days, baseball, and roadtrips, but you can’t have eternal life without the righteousness of God. You’re left wanting.

Jesus offers good news to those left wanting, those who know this world cannot give them real life. Jesus promises that those hungry for the righteousness God alone can give will one day be satisfied.

Father, there are lots of good things in this world I enjoy, but none of them lead to life. I’m seeking you, knowing your righteousness will come one day.

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Week 4, Day 3

Meet Your Teachers: Mr. Hunger and Mrs. Thirst

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Matthew 5:6

As the Israelites prepared to enter the land of Canaan after forty-years of wandering in the wilderness, Moses led them in reviewing their experiences and the lessons they should have learned along the way. Among Moses’ recollections was the nation’s experience of hunger.

Not long after they left Egypt, even as they were journeying to Mount Sinai, the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron. They said something like, “We would have rather died suddenly with full stomachs in Egypt than be wasting away with hunger in the wilderness.” God, in his grace, answered the people by feeding them day by day with manna. After forty years of gathering manna, Moses interpreted their experience of hunger as not without purpose. God caused them to hunger for bread so that through his provision they would know “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”

Like the Israelites, we are on a journey through the wilderness of this rebellious world to the promised land of heaven, where righteousness rules. One day we will be home in the presence of God, where God’s will and way are always in control. We will think back on this journey and realize hunger and thirst were our teachers. When we cannot right the wrong done to us or seek vengeance for the injustice we endure, we are left knowing this world cannot offer what we need and longing for the day when God will satisfy that longing by making all things new.

Father, the way of this world does not lead to life. Help me to long for your righteousness and to know you will give it in due time. 

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Week 4, Day 4

A Place at the Table

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Matthew 5:6

After years of delivering hot meals to people in need, Lisa Thomas McMillan opened a restaurant called Drexell and Honeybees. McMillan’s restaurant features a unique concept. The menu has no prices. Guests receive no bill. The restaurant is donations only. McMillan’s desire is to give the hungry a place to dine with dignity. Everyone is welcome. Those who can pay do. Those who can’t don’t. Regardless of ability, everyone is offered a place at the table. 

The prophet Isaiah was a lot like Lisa Thomas McMillan. He saw the need around him and wanted to do something about it. He knew that the people of Judah were spiritually bankrupt. They were desperate for God’s grace, but they had nothing to offer God for it. But Isaiah also knew God’s grace is never for sale. It is offered free of charge. So he prophesied, "Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy…without money and without price.”

Jesus, fulfilling Isaiah’s message, made a similar offer, albeit one centered on himself. He said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus offers those who are spiritually hungry and thirsty a place at the table. When we take our seat by faith, he feeds us with righteousness.

Father, thank you for offering me a place at the table where I can be fed with your righteousness. I’m sitting down by faith in your Son. 

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Week 4, Day 5

Don’t Spoil Your Dinner

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Matthew 5:6

Has an adult ever told you, “Don’t eat that. You’ll spoil your dinner,”? We usually hear those words when we are looking for a snack in the afternoon and are about to eat something less than nutritious. We hit the kitchen, ready to pop the top on some Pringles or unwrap a smile with a Little Debbie, only to hear a voice of wisdom and warning: “Don’t eat that. You’ll spoil your dinner.”

Our parents know what we sometimes struggle to learn: if we fill up on junk food we’ll have two problems: first, we won’t feel hungry when dinner is ready; second, we won’t get enough nutrition to keep us from getting hungry in the night. Our parents help us learn the discipline of waiting so that we are hungry for the right things. 

The same thing is true spiritually. Sometimes we aren’t hungry or thirsty for righteousness—God’s will and God’s way—because we fill up on things that aren’t pleasing to God. Maybe we don’t desire for our speech to be holy because we are easily drawn into conversations that are mean spirited. Maybe we don’t study diligently because we are fine with barely passing grades. Maybe we don’t look for ways to dress modestly because it’s easier to be accepted by our peers when we dress like them.

Sin is like junk food: in the moment it seems like a good option, but in the long run it’s deadly. That’s why the apostle Paul commands us to “run away from childish indulgence” and to “run after mature righteousness.”

Father, make me hungry for the righteousness that comes by faith by denying myself the sinful junk this world constantly offers.