Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6 NIV)

For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:17 NIV)

As a young boy growing up in the church, I often heard sermons on righteousness, translated as righteous behavior and emphasizing the need for me to do right things and live the right way.

I don’t remember this concept being tied to a right relationship with God as thoroughly as I have come to understand that it is. I now understand it in relational terms: how to get right with God (justification), how to stay right with God (sanctification), and how to end right with God (glorification). So when Jesus tells his disciples to hunger and thirst for righteousness, He is encouraging their pursuit of the One who is righteous, who makes righteous, and who enables righteousness.

When the Apostle Paul lays out his premise for his letter to the Romans, he centers it on a righteousness which comes by faith (trust in the Righteous One who enables that righteousness in us). He explains why we are not right with God (chapters 1-3), how we can get right with God (chapters 4-5), how we can stay right with God (chapters 6-8), how God is right in His dealings with Israel and the Gentiles (chapters 9-11), and how being right with God works in our earthly relationships to keep us right with others (chapters 12-16). Now I am sure some might disagree with this simple outline of the book, but my contention still stands that Paul is dealing with rightness in terms of relationships.

One reference work explains it thus: “Furthermore, the Hebrew usage, which influences that of the NT writers, tends to be relational and concrete; one is ‘righteous’ with respect to another human being or to God, in a particular kind of conduct, or in a particular ‘contention’ which has arisen (*e.g. Deut. 6:25; Ps. 106:31; Is. 5:7; Ezek 3:20; Luke 1:6; Rom. 2:13; 1 Pet. 3:10–12).” [From Righteousness, Justice, and Justification, New Dictionary of Biblical Theology]

Those who have joined the band of brothers and sisters in THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE BURNING HEART must learn this. Our burning passion must not become just a quest for knowledge about God, not just a desire to do right things or live a right kind of life. Put in proper perspective these are important. However, our passionate desire must be for God alone, to be right with Him and to stay right with Him. When our relationship with Him is right, these other important matters fall into place. Our other relationships begin to work as God intends, when we are right with Him, and even when they are not working as we wish them to, when we are right with Him, we can do right by others, whether or not they do right by us.

James L. Snyder in his Forward to my edition of The Pursuit of God describes Tozer’s passion: “Tozer’s walk with God was a priority with him and he allowed nothing to interfere. It was the basis of his attraction to the Christian mystics. Their absorption in the daily practice of the presence of God was a stimulus for him and he delighted in their spiritual fellowship. He could forgive anyone almost anything if he discovered they had pure intent toward God.”

He also describes Tozer’s spiritual quest: “Dr. Tozer’s prayer life was quite remarkable. His regular habit was to sprawl on his study floor, facedown, and worship God. Often, according to his own testimony, he would lie in silent, wordless worship of God, usually oblivious to his surroundings. Such prayer and worship marked the foundation of his study and preparation for public ministry.”

Fellow members of TFOTBH, let us make an attempt to keep the vertical relationship right and see how that affects our horizontal relationships. I believe that if we will seek God with all our hearts, not only will He allow us to find Him, but in finding Him, we find all that we need in every area of life. It certainly deserves our best effort.