This week we are continuing our Happiness or the Beatitudes series studying Jesus’ sermon in Matthew 5 where he is inaugurating the kingdom of God on earth. In this message, we will learn about what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6). Hunger and thirst are strong desires. The language that we see in this text around hungering and thirsting describes an intense desire of someone who is famished and desperate. Although we may not all relate to the physical experience of hungering and thirsting at such great magnitudes, those whom Jesus was speaking to might have walked through seasons of such desperation.

In continuation of our series on the Beatitudes, we are focusing on Matthew 5:5, which says, “blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Meek is not a word that we use often in our culture today. Translated in Greek, “meek” means strength under control. A simple definition would be that meek is not weak. When we look throughout scripture, there are several examples that can help us understand what it means to be meek.

In this season of Lent, let’s consider Jesus and look upon that cross at Calvary. When we look upon the price that was paid for our sin, we can’t help but be filled with sorrow for the life that Jesus gave for our sin, and that mourning will produce repentance, and that repentance will produce joy, and that joy will produce strength, and we are comforted in that.

To be spiritually poor means that we’re simply aware of our spiritual condition--that without God we are nothing and can do nothing without God, but with God, all things are possible. We settle far too often for systems and structures of righteousness that are shallow and failing because it gives us a level of self-confidence. God is not looking for self-confidence but total and complete dependency on him. If we want to be truly blessed, truly happy, then we have to know what it is to come to the end of ourselves--that apart from Christ, we will never experience true happiness, understand what it means to live a life of meaning and significance.

We are in extraordinary times and we have faced so much politically, socially, as well as in our relationships as we are in isolation from our loved ones. How we engage in our relationships changes in every season. Let’s consider what our relationships need from us, in this time and in this season. God is always wanting to strengthen and grow our capacity for love and relationships.

Our words have power, and our words reveal the condition of our hearts (Matthew 12:37). We must examine the words that we speak to know the condition of our hearts. Our words not only set the course for our life, but they also reveal the condition of our hearts.

The promise extended to Abraham was extended first to his father, Tara. Tara had heard God, believed God and followed God, but then he became bitter. He allowed the pain of his past, the disappointment of the loss, the bitterness in his heart to take his focus off of God. He died in the place of relational pain, serving other gods.

The first commandment to love God is not usually challenging for us as Christians; the second commandment, however, to love our neighbor, is often quite challenging. Loving our neighbor sounds simple enough until we have a crazy neighbor. We all have someone that challenges us that lives near us. Our call is to love our neighbor even when they disagree with us or when they may not be loving to us.