We are what we eat

In the Sermon on the Mount, found in chapter five of the book of Matthew, the Lord gave eight beatitudes, or blessings, to the people. In verse six we find, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

What do you hunger for? As believers, we know that riches, honors, and the pleasures of this world amount to little when it comes to God’s kingdom or even our own true joy. For the momentary pleasure these things may lend, the happiness factor doesn’t really satisfy for very long. The new car “smell” is only for a short time. Vacations come to an end. Even food and water can carry us only so long before we need to replenish ourselves.

In speaking of God, St. Augustine once said, “Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee.”

The universal traits of the human heart include the desire to seek out something to fill our restlessness. Unfortunately, many of us, even after being saved, can look for this completion in the wrong places. What we’re searching for is only found in Christ. That is where we are fully whole, established, complete, and satisfied.

While some may wish to find their own righteousness in what they do, say, or stand for. True righteousness, the one that fulfills and sustains, is only imputed spiritually through the bestowment of the Lord. Self-righteousness, piety, and one-foot-in-the-world mentality will not be blessed by the Lord, and those who seek these things still remain starved and wanting.

In the words of John Piper: “If we don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because we have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.”

We truly are what we eat.

.Jesus Sermon On The Mount Christian - Christianity 8 X 10 Glossy Photo