Is the cry of your heart, "Oh, I want to be righteous and holy? This not just a perfectionist's pipe dream, but a longing that God Himself places in our heart and mind.

In our Matthew study passage, often called the Sermon on the Mount, or the Beattitudes, Jesus is pronouncing, blessed those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. His promise to these is, that they will be filled. That makes it a good thing to be hungry and thirsty for righteousness. We'll get it.

You may be hesitating; what exactly is righteousness?

Only God and His Son Jesus are totally righteous or holy, perfect. And, of course, the Holy Spirit who is in us if we've humbly received Jesus' death on the cross as our substitute. He abides, or is in our spirit to help us be as righteous or holy as we want to be.

Therefore, the more we desire, or hunger and thirst for His perfection the more we'll get.

How can that work, when we, I at least, - always feel like I'm not measuring up, or constantly making new mistakes that I never thought to avoid?

There is that constant tension of the Tempter trying to thwart us from being holy. So we must continually desire holiness and cast ourselves upon the Lord, reckoning that He will keep His Word and give us the holiness of Jesus for each moment and crisis.

Sometimes we tell ourselves that because the struggle seems so un-ending, we must be losing the battle. That is just not so. Jesus guarantees here, in the Beatitudes that those who hunger and thirst for purity or righteousness shall be filled!

Over the decades now of my life, I've noticed a consistent pattern; whenever I feel I'm not connecting with God as I should, or that my spiritual life has become dull and routine - it is time to humbly come before the Lord in prayer and admit that I have drifted away from Him. After that, as soon as I start reading and meditating on passages in His Word, the Bible, it comes alive and I sense His Spirit applying those words to me.

Once more, I want to be righteous and holy!