The Blessing of True Spiritual Hunger

The first three Beatitudes are primarily focused on an awareness or a recognition of what we are, our true spiritual nature and condition.  They in turn lay the foundation for the fourth, that is the awareness or recognition of what we should be, our true spiritual need.  That need, in one word, is righteousness.  And that need is so significant and profound that we should hunger and thirst for it.  A description of the two most significant and strongest of all human needs and desires.  Given that, just what is righteousness?  What is that condition or quality that is such a basic and common part of our Christian vocabulary?  What exactly is it that we so desperately need?  And what does it mean to hunger and thirst for it?  We turn this morning to the very foundation of our spiritual life, in Matthew 5:6, in a message entitled, “The Blessing of True Spiritual Hunger”.