Sunday morning we returned to the beatitudes in Matthew 5:6.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.
The gospel of the kingdom is an invitation from Jesus to the hungry soul. Come and be satisfied.
John Flavel, the English Puritan described the satisfaction available to the believer’s soul in his writing on Romans 5:5:
“Ecstasy and delight are essential to the believer’s soul, and they promote the believer’s sanctification. We were not meant to live without spiritual exhilaration. And the Christian who goes for a long time without the experience of heart-warming will soon find himself tempted to have his emotions satisfied from earthly things and not as he ought from the Spirit of God.”
“The soul is so constituted that it craves fulfillment from things outside itself and will embrace earthly joys for satisfaction when it cannot reach the spiritual ones. The believer then is in spiritual danger if he allows himself to go for any length of time without tasting of the love of Christ and savoring the felt comforts of a Savior’s presence.”
Friend, when is the last time you felt something of the heart-warming satisfaction of Jesus?
Maybe this Lent season is an opportunity for you to practice some kind of fast – to empty yourself of the trivial things of the world and be filled in Jesus.
Tom Brown is the planting pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Wichita. Tom and his wife, Mandy, have worked together in ministry for over 20 years and have four children. More about Pastor Tom Brown