How Do We Hunger for Righteousness?

Nov 18

Discover how physical and spiritual hunger can transform your life, deepen your connection with God, and inspire a mission of love and mercy.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Hunger Transforms Everything

In 1944, Dr. Ancel Keys led the Minnesota Starvation Experiment to study the effects of starvation and develop methods to rehabilitate war-torn populations. Young men, mostly conscientious objectors, volunteered, driven by a sense of purpose. They endured a strict regimen, halving their caloric intake while performing physical and intellectual tasks to simulate famine conditions.

As hunger deepened, participants experienced physical weakness and mental changes. Their thoughts became consumed by food, leading to obsessions like creating “food scrapbooks.” Many struggled to focus on studies or relationships, and some dropped out. Despite the hardships, the study provided crucial insights into the impact of starvation and ways to aid recovery.

The thing to take away from that story is their physical weakness intensified, and hunger became an all-consuming force that reshaped their thoughts and personalities. Their mental and emotional energy was so consumed by hunger that they lost interest in anything unrelated to eating.

In the Beatitudes, Jesus shared: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled (Matthew 5:6).”

Hunger transforms every thought, action, and desire until nothing else seems to matter. In Matthew 5:6, Jesus spoke of a different hunger—a hunger not for food but for righteousness.

In order to increase his hunger for righteousness, John Wesley practiced fasting regularly, often twice a week, to sharpen his focus on God and make space for spiritual growth. As he felt the pangs of hunger, he was reminded of a deeper need, a need for God’s presence. Wesley described how hunger intensified his awareness of his dependence on God, drawing him to pursue holiness and grow in love.

Recently, to better understand how the spiritual discipline of fasting helps us experience God’s presence in our lives, I’ve begun experimenting with fasting. To assist my understanding, I read The Fasting Key by Mark Nysewander, and in it, he says this:

“Fasting is not the reason you have spiritual fellowship with Jesus. Redemption is. Because your sins are forgiven, and you have been born of the Spirit, you can now experience Jesus spiritually. Although fasting isn’t the reason for spiritual communion, it does enhance your experience of the Lord.”

As I fasted and curbed my physical appetites, my spiritual appetites grew. As my body grew weaker from not eating, it became easier to surrender to the Holy Spirit. Prayer became clearer, too, making it easier to hear from God. I concur with John Wesley and Mark Nysewander that fasting is one way to grow our spiritual hunger for God’s righteousness.

How Do We Hunger for Righteousness?

So, what does it mean to hunger for righteousness?

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament defines righteousness as “a state of being aligned with God’s will and His divine nature, embodying the standards of truth, justice, and love that reflect God’s character. It involves living rightly in a way that reflects God’s values and reveals His kingdom to the world.”

In Wesley’s “Second Discourse Upon the Sermon on the Mount,” he wrote, “Righteousness is the image of God, the mind which was in Christ Jesus. It is every holy and heavenly temper in one; springing from, as well as terminating in, the love of God as our Father and Redeemer, and the love of all men for His sake.”

For Wesley, true righteousness begins and ends in love—the love of God, which shapes our minds and hearts to reflect Jesus Christ.

This is the righteousness Jesus calls us to hunger after. It’s not merely a moral standard; it’s a transformative relationship with God. It’s about becoming one with Him. We receive God’s righteousness when we put our faith in Jesus, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV).”

When we seek God’s righteousness, we seek union with Christ, which is complete surrender. Asking Jesus to live his life through us. This oneness is echoed throughout Scripture:

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3
“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” 1 Corinthians 6:17
“Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:3

Hungering for righteousness is a desire to live in the fullness of that fellowship and union with God.

As we draw closer to God, the fruit of His Spirit begins to flow naturally into our lives. Paul described this fruit in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We cannot produce these qualities on our own; they result from God’s Spirit at work in us as we surrender our lives to Him.

When God’s Spirit fills us, we experience a love that transcends our natural ability—a love that sees others with God’s compassion and mercy. This love doesn’t come from our efforts but from the overflow of God’s love within us.

Joy is similar. It’s a deep, abiding gladness that isn’t based on changing circumstances but is rooted in our fellowship with the Holy Spirit. And then there is peace, a divine tranquility that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, even when we experience hardship and trials.

God intends that we experience His righteousness within us, transforming us from the inside out. As we are filled with His righteousness and joy, something remarkable happens: our hearts begin to long for others to experience the same blessing. We are moved with compassion, becoming merciful toward others because we understand the mercy God has shown us. We become peacemakers, desiring to make peace that others can see and feel—a peace that points us to God. And in this process, we reflect the purity and holiness of God, who now dwells within us, allowing His Spirit to reshape our desires, thoughts, and actions.

This inward transformation naturally opens our hearts to the world around us. Filled with God’s righteousness, we begin to embody Jesus’ call to be merciful peacemakers, exuding a holiness that is not our own but flows from the God who lives within us.

As we hunger for righteousness, John Wesley offered this warning:

“Beware of quenching that blessed hunger by what the world calls religion; a religion of form, of outside show, which leaves the heart as earthly and sensual as ever. Let nothing satisfy thee but…thy dwelling in God and God in thee.”

There are many people in our churches, myself included, who can and do get caught in this trap. We settle into a routine of going to church because we feel it’s the right thing to do but miss out on the power of the indwelling spirit because we have not cultivated a hunger for God and His righteousness. It’s easy to settle for rituals and appearances, but this type of religion does not lead us to dwell in God. The only thing that truly satisfies us is a life deeply united with God’s Spirit.

So, how do we practically cultivate a hunger for this kind of righteousness? Psalm 32 provides some guidance.

1) Confess Our Sins

As the psalmist declared, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long” (Psalm 32:3, NIV). This silence in withholding confession weighs heavily on the soul.

Confession is essential because unconfessed sin builds barriers, dulling our spiritual senses and keeping us from experiencing closeness with God. But those barriers are removed when we bring our sins to God in honesty and repentance.

The psalmist celebrates this freedom: “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin” (Psalm 32:5, NIV). With confession, we’re once again able to hear God clearly and draw nearer to Him.

2) Pray While God May Be Found

Secondly, Psalm 32 urges us to pray while God may be found—to seek Him in times of stillness and silence, where His voice can be heard. The psalmist exhorts, “Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them” (Psalm 32:6, NIV).

Today, we are often consumed by what the psalm calls “rushing waters”—the constant noise of social media, the pressure to achieve, and the relentless pursuit of more. This flood of distractions makes it nearly impossible to hear God. But when we make time for silent contemplation and prayer, we create space for God to fill, deepening our hunger for His presence.

As God promises in the psalm, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you” (Psalm 32:8, NIV). God wants to meet with each one of you personally, in the quiet of the morning or the stillness of the night, when the distractions of the world are not constantly hounding us.

Righteousness Motivates Mission

The life of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, beautifully illustrates this pursuit of God’s righteousness. Ignatius was a Spanish soldier who initially sought personal glory through war and conquest. He was injured in battle and spent months in recovery, reading about Jesus and the saints. This time of reflection stirred something new within him. He began to feel a deep hunger for a life dedicated to God. Out of this experience, Ignatius developed what he called the Spiritual Exercises—a series of reflections on personal sin, Christ’s atonement, and Jesus’ Lordship.

As Ignatius hungered after God, his focus shifted from self-glory to God’s glory. He and his followers, the Jesuits, became known for their deep devotion and mercy. They extended God’s mercy to the world, particularly through St. Francis Xavier, who carried the gospel to India, Indonesia, and Japan. Ignatius’s hunger for God was passed on, inspiring a movement of mercy and evangelism, fulfilling the next beatitude, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

When we hunger for righteousness, it awakens within us a powerful motivation for mission. As we experience the depth of God’s love and mercy, we begin to see the world through His eyes. Our desire to know God and be filled with His Spirit naturally extends to a desire for others to also encounter Him. We long for those who don’t know Jesus to experience the same joy, peace, and hope we have in Him. This is especially true for those who have never heard of Jesus, the unreached people groups scattered across the globe, and for those who live in poverty and suffering, cut off from the fullness of life God intends.

This hunger for God’s righteousness stirs within us a heart for those in spiritual darkness and physical need. Like Jesus, who was moved with compassion for the crowds because they were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36), we begin to feel a deep burden for the lost and the hurting.

The Spirit compels us to reach out, to go beyond our comfort zones, and to bring the gospel to places where people have never heard the name of Jesus. It drives us to step into the lives of those who suffer, offering practical help and the message of God’s love, which brings hope and healing.

Throughout history, this hunger for righteousness has fueled mission movements to reach the unreached and uplift the suffering. Men and women filled with God’s Spirit were moved to go where others would not, motivated by a love that could not be contained.

As we hunger for God’s righteousness today, we’re invited into this same mission. Our lives are meant to reflect the heart of God, who desires that none should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Through our hunger, we’re equipped not just to receive God’s righteousness but to share it, becoming instruments of His mercy, peace, and justice in a world that is desperate for His presence.

May this hunger push us outward, not content to remain in our own satisfaction but yearning to see the gospel spread to the ends of the earth, to the unreached, and those in desperate need. Just as Ignatius and the Jesuits exemplified this mission, let us be willing to take this hunger and carry it wherever God leads, embodying His love for the lost and His compassion for the suffering.

TL;DR

Hunger transforms us—whether for food or righteousness.
In Matthew 5:6, Jesus calls us to hunger for righteousness, a deep desire for God’s presence and alignment with His will.
Through fasting, prayer, and confession, we cultivate this hunger, allowing God’s Spirit to fill and transform us.
This pursuit of righteousness motivates us to reflect God’s love, mercy, and peace to the world, fueling a mission to reach the lost and uplift the suffering.
True satisfaction comes not from religious routine but from a life deeply united with God.