Jan 6, 2017 - Matt 5
Blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matt 5:6
The Answer for a full life is not in activity, but in righteousness.
Imagine you walked into your favorite coffee shop, and
ordered a vente coffee of your favorite variety. Paying the charge, you wait expectantly for
your go-go juice, and in a few minutes the barista calls you up to receive your
cup. You start to take a sip and notice
something wrong – the cup feels light, and nothing is coming out. Instead of coffee, it’s just a vente
cup. Pretty cup, with a heat shield, and
quality lid… but no coffee. You ask the
barista to fill the cup, and they apologize immediately, then fill the cup and
bring it back to you. This time you open
it and discover it wasn’t filled with hot coffee, but lukewarm tap water! What is up with that!?! This would not be a place you visited ever
again.
Emptiness is defeat. When
something was created to be filled, it loses purpose when it’s empty. Ask any coffee drinker when the pot is empty,
or the race car driver when the tank is running on fumes, or the soul when it
feels lonely. And filling the emptiness
with substitutes does not help.
Substitutes may take up space, but they don’t generate the purpose.
Jesus started his greatest sermon with a list called the
Beatitudes, a list of blessings that fill properly our empty moments in life. And Jesus doesn’t prescribe substitutes, He
fills the voids with Exactly what must be given in order to regain
fullness. In the middle of the list is a
prescription that speaks to the cup of our soul. Jesus teaches us that those who hunger for
righteousness will receive a full cup of it. Hungering for the truth instead of
substitutes is like a permanent lifetime refill machine. Jesus promises that those who do will not be
disappointed.
Unfortunately, hungering for righteousness is too
uncommon. More often than not, people
are satisfied filling their cups with substitutes like selfishness,
materialism, worldliness and more. But
in the end, the substitutes leave us empty and sick, needing even more a
filling that only comes with Truth.
The beginning of a year is a good time to check out your
cup. If your soul is feeling empty,
start seeking the Truth & righteousness that only comes from God. If you have been filling your soul with
worldly substitutes, change your thinking and start thirsting for pure refills
from the Lord. Don’t live another day
with emptiness, let Jesus fill your cup.
He is a barista that never lets you down.
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