Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matthew 5:6)
We have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). However, it’s your choice to walk in this righteousness or not. It is delusional to think that once the righteousness of Christ has been imputed unto you everything you do is righteous. If that were the case we would not have been given this solemn warning: “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame” (Hebrews 6: 4-:6). This Scripture does not refer to the Jews who lived under the old covenant as some have claimed. For under the Old covenant, Jesus wasn’t crucified and therefore it cannot be said of those who lived under the Law that they should be mindful of crucifying Jesus again to themselves. It is certainly a warning for us, who have believed in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, to heed.
Think twice therefore, if you have a theology that says once saved forever saved, with the meaning that once you accept Jesus Christ, you can do whatever you want, living after the carnal nature, and still enter heaven. The Scriptures clearly debunk that: Hebrews 10:26-29: “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace”?
Although we have been made righteous, we are told to pursue it. 2 Tim 2:22 says “Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness…”. Pursuit is proof of desire. Even so, pursuing righteousness is proof of our hunger and thirst for righteousness, and if this is our quest in life we shall be satisfied. But how do we practically pursue righteousness?
In Ephesians 6:14 we are told to “put on the BREASTPLATE of righteousness“, and in 1 Thessalonians 5:8 we are admonished to put on the “BREASTPLATE of faith and love“. Clearly, the breastplate we are to put on is faith and love, and this breastplate is righteousness. To pursue righteousness is therefore to pursue faith and love, “for in Christ Jesus… the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6). And whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).
If we are going to be those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, then we must be people who walk in faith and in love. These are the ones whom the Lord Jesus calls blessed. They are the ones who can walk in the full assurance of receiving the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls (1 Peter 1:9)”. They are the ones whose hunger are satisfied with the goodness of heaven, and with God Himself.
-Kwadwo Omari
© 2015