“Isolated, Yet Hungering & Thirsting For Someone To Teach Them About Righteousness”
[By Cameron Piner]
Romans 12 talks about how Christians are to become living sacrifices. That is a reasonable calling, because of the mercies of God, but it isn’t very easy. In fact, it is quite challenging to take up our cross daily and sacrifice our lives for God. Often, when we see something that is challenging, we decide that we don’t want to do it, because we see difficult tasks as unpleasant. However, becoming a living sacrifice doesn’t have to be unpleasant, sad, nor depressing. Instead, Jesus teaches us that if we are willing to do some hard things for Him, then we will be blessed, happy, and satisfied.
In Matthew 5-7, Jesus is presenting the “sermon on the mount.” During this sermon, Jesus is describing what the people who are in His kingdom look like. One example of this is in Matthew 5:6, which says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (NASB).
Someone who “hungers and thirsts,” in a physical sense, is someone who is lacking food/ water. They need food to survive, so they greatly desire and search for any source of food. Jesus uses this image to illustrate an attitude of needing, greatly desiring, and searching for righteousness.
If you hungered and thirsted for food and water, then the only thing that would make you happy (i.e. blessed) would be for you to receive food and thereby your hunger would be satisfied. Jesus says that the person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness is blessed (i.e. happy), because they will be satisfied. Later in the sermon, Jesus says, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, NASB). God promises to bless, satisfy, and provide for those who are seeking righteousness with all the fervor of someone who is starving for food.
Does this happen? What does this look like? Who are people that are good examples of hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and what can we learn from their examples? There are many people in scripture, history, and today’s world that hunger and thirst for righteousness. I want to highlight two “kingdom people” who are blessed because they have hungered and thirsted for righteousness. Both of these people lived in isolated places (at least isolated from most of God’s people), both of them searched for righteousness, and both pleaded with someone to teach them about the scriptures.
The first example comes from the modern day, about 7-8 years ago, in the country of Brazil. I know of this person through the story given by one of the men who taught him, but I will leave the names out.
There was a young boy who lived in the middle of nowhere in Brazil. The nearest Christian lived a few days journey away. This teenager didn’t know any Christians, didn’t know how to be a Christian, and didn’t have anyone to teach him. Nevertheless, this young man was hungry for God. This teenager was so thirsty for righteousness, that he found a bible and began to read, read, and read. But that wasn’t enough, he wanted to know more about how to be a Christian and wanted to meet other Christians. So, this young man went to an internet café to search online – They barely had internet access in his small town, so the only way to get online was to pay to use the one computer, one day a week, and hope the connection held enough to do anything. This young man found a website that was run by a Christian and provided bible study information, articles, resources, and a way to connect and ask questions. For weeks, this teenager would save money, then go every week to the internet café to read more and ask questions about the bible.
His main reason for finding this website, was that he needed to find a Christian that would be willing to come and baptize him, but that wasn’t easy to do. Even after studying online with Christians, it was nearly impossible for them to come to meet him in person. Finally, after months of begging, two men traveled to his town to meet him. This trip took a few days, ending with a 24 hour drive down a dirt “road” (if it could be called that). When this young man finally met these Christians, he immediately wanted them to teach him everything he could learn about righteousness, specifically salvation. At the end of that day, this young man was able to be baptized and he rejoiced greatly. The two men left the next day, which meant that this babe in Christ would be all alone and might not see them again. But nothing was going to stop this young man from rejoicing, living for Christ, and spreading the gospel to those around him. He was blessed, happy, and satisfied after hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and begging someone to come teach him about the scriptures.
The second example is very similar, but it comes from the scriptures. Acts 8:26-40 tells the story of another man who lived in a place that was primarily isolated from other Christians. The Ethiopian Eunuch had traveled to Jerusalem to worship, but was now returning to Ethiopia. While riding in the chariot, the eunuch was reading the scriptures, specifically Isaiah. However, the eunuch was having trouble understanding what he was reading. This eunuch was hungering and thirsting for righteousness, but he needed someone to explain the scriptures to him. God was going to satisfy this hungry soul.
God sent Phillip to this road and then told him to “Go up and join this chariot” (Acts 8:29, NASB). Phillip ran up to the chariot and asked the eunuch if he understood what he was reading. The eunuch responded by saying, “’Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Phillip to come up and sit with him” (Acts 8:31, NASB).
Just like the Brazilian boy, this Ethiopian Eunuch was thirsting for someone to teach him the scriptures. And much like the boy pleaded for someone to come and baptize him, the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:36, NASB). He then ordered the chariot to stop, and Phillip baptized him.
Phillip was then snatched away by God, but notice the emotion that the eunuch left with: “…and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39, NASB). The eunuch was blessed, happy, and satisfied, because he hungered and thirsted for righteousness.
Both the Brazilian and the Ethiopian are examples of blessed people in God’s kingdom. They were both isolated, reading the scriptures, needing instruction, and begging for someone to baptize them. Then they both went away rejoicing, despite never seeing their teachers again.
We too can be blessed people of God’s kingdom. We may feel isolated at times, but we can read the scriptures. We may feel like we need guidance in the scripture at times, but if we seek instruction, the Lord will provide. And if we’ve had our sins washed away in baptism, then we too can go on our way rejoicing, being blessed, happy, and satisfied, because we hunger and thirst for righteousness.