Daily Devotion: Righteousness vs. Religion

Bible Reading:  Matthew 5:6 and I Corinthians 15:31-34 

Key Verse:  Verse 6 - Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Key Words:  hunger and thirst after righteousness

A person who is desperately hungry or thirsty can think of nothing but food and drink.  So it is with a person who hungers and thirsts, not after religion, but righteousness.

In the Antarctic summer of 1908-9, Sir Ernest Shackleton and three companions attempted to travel to the South Pole from their winter quarters. They set off with four ponies to help carry the load. Weeks later, their ponies dead, rations all but exhausted, they turned back toward their base, their goal not accomplished.

Altogether, they trekked 127 days. On the return journey, as Shackleton records in The Heart of the Antarctic, the time was spent talking about food -- elaborate feasts, gourmet delights, sumptuous menus. As they staggered along, suffering from dysentery, not knowing whether they would survive, every waking hour was occupied with thoughts of eating.  Jesus, who also knew the ravages of food deprivation, said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS."  We can understand Shackleton's obsession with food, which offers a glimpse of the passion Jesus intends for our quest for righteousness.

What to do:
✞ Seek for righteousness and the rules and regulations will take care of themselves.

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