Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. – Matthew 5:6

Scripture reading: Matthew 5:1-20

Eating good food today requires some degree of discipline. We can often eat based solely on an appetite that demands to be instantly and easily satisfied, often with food that lacks nutritional value and the ingredients for long-term health. A pathway to change includes a slow change in our appetite. As we learn to eat healthier foods, to cook with fresher ingredients, we will find our appetites themselves changing, where we develop a desire for something better.

Gluttony, as we have defined it, is inordinate desire, particularly for food and drink. Desire is not the problem, for our Maker designed us with desires to be fulfilled. We need to cultivate desires for what is truly meaningful and lasting, for Jesus Christ Himself.

C.S. Lewis once wrote:

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. Earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only arouse it…If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy…I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country…”

Feed on Christ and His Word. Fast while we wait for the Bridegroom to return. Believe Jesus when He said, “I am the Bread of Life.” Come, believe, take the bread and the cup.

Suggestions for prayer:

“May I seek first Thy kingdom and its righteousness. May I value things in relation to eternity. May my spiritual welfare be my chief solicitude.” – The Valley of Vision; Desires

This daily devotional is available in a print edition you can buy at Nearer to God Devotional. Rev. Mark Stewart serves the Burlington URC in Burlington, WA.