Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6 ESV)
Sometimes it's the simple things that kill us.
For example, I'm writing this right now from the diner down the street from our house. For about 6 bucks, I've purchased more food than I need. I'm leaving behind two slices of toast, a hand full of french fries, and a couple shards of scrambled eggs. I've got coffee beside me (as is typically the case for a blog post) that will be refreshed as many times as I need it to be. Those six bucks that this meal cost me are ultimately not that painful to part with. My guess is during the course of my week I'll hardly notice they're gone.
And this is all well and good, until you realize there are people in the world that live on $2 a day. That's it! It would take folks like that three days to be able to afford the meal I've just consumed, and that's if they put aside all the other conveniences I've neglected to mention like the gas it took me to get here in my car that I make payments on from the house that I rent each month. The truth is that there are people around the world for whom just the SCRAPS I left behind would be a feast and a half.
Something isn't right.
Something isn't right when dad splits and leaves a single mother to care for her tiny children alone. Something isn't right when parents are forced to choose between feeding themselves or feeding their children. Something isn't right with a father has to bury his own son. Something isn't right when rather than receiving help, a homeless man is shunned because he "brought it upon himself."
Something isn't right, and whether we're ready to admit it or not, it's the same "something" that causes people to hijack planes and fly them into buildings.
When we come to this realization (which is an accomplishment in and of itself in many cases), we're faced with a choice. We can either shake our heads, say "that's a shame", and return to our comfy cushions and our cups of coffee. We can try to ignore it and pretend it's not happening. We can explain it away, saying things like "I'd help if I could, but I'm just one person..."
Or...
We can be hungry! We can insist that this is absolutely not the righteousness that God intended for the world when he created the world. We can do more than dream the big dreams, we could actually believe they could happen and then act on it. We could resign ourselves to the fact that complacency is for pansies, and that the job of the Church will not be done until the wedding feast of the Lamb.
The world is broken. If you don't believe me, turn on CNN or Fox or whatever your news channel of choice is. Better yet, go spend a couple hours in the worst neighborhood in your city. The question at the end of this blog post is what are you going to do about it? Will this blog post actually inspire action, or are we just used to hearing the cry to battle?
If you need just a little more assurance, and you don't mind a somewhat violent metaphor, Jesus has loaded the gun and placed it in our hands. The end of this passage tells us that if we are truly hungry for justice in the world, we'll see it happen. Do you believe that? I mean when the rubber hits the road, do we believe that Jesus meant what he said? Not just the parts about saving us (though that's super important to believe too!), but this kind of stuff. Do you believe that if you actually hunger and thirst for righteousness, you'll see it come to fruition? You'll be satisfied?
If you do, then join me. Set the coffee down for a bit, and let's change the world.
More tomorrow!
Jason
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