Today's inspiration comes from:
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Today's inspiration comes from:
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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. — Matthew 5:6
In 1945, as World War II was coming to an end, allied troops liberated the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen. What they found shocked them—skeletal figures, hollow eyes, children too weak to cry. Many of the newly freed prisoners died not from German bullets but from starvation even after rescue. Their bodies, long denied nutrition, could not handle too much too quickly. They had been starving so long that even food had to be reintroduced slowly, carefully. And yet, the most haunting detail wasn’t just physical. As one British chaplain recorded, many of those survivors wept when they saw bread—not because it was bread, but because they remembered what it felt like to hope.1 This is a good picture of what Jesus is laying before us in our journey to be made more like Him.
The word for “hunger” here is πεινάω (peinaō). It means more than the feeling of being unable to eat but rather to be famished. It was used in the previous chapter of Matthew’s gospel to describe what Jesus was feeling at the end of a forty-day, forty-night fast (Matthew 4:2). The word for “thirst” is διψάω (dipsaō). Jesus uses this same word for “thirsty” in Matthew 25:35 in His parable of the sheep and goats.
Again, the meaning isn’t that you could use a drink of something but rather your mouth has dried out, your tongue is stuck to the roof of your mouth, and you are dehydrated to the point of danger. The picture here is a person in deep need—desperate.
However, in the Beatitudes, hunger and thirst are used metaphorically of the state of the blessed one’s soul. It’s not food or beverage they are desperate for but righteousness. We can’t ignore the sheer number of times the term righteousness is used in the Scriptures.
It’s used eighty-nine times and is in almost every book of the New Testament. If I were to ask you for a definition of righteousness, what would you say? Would you mention the legal principles found in the moral law of God? Or maybe a list of God’s standards? Would your mind go to all the things you should and shouldn’t be doing?
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To be rightly related to God is to be bound to Him in a covenant of love and fidelity.
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To be rightly related to God is to be bound to Him in a covenant of love and fidelity.
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Right Relatedness
My wife, Lauren, has a broad swath of gifts. I do three things well. Lauren sings, writes, leads, paints, teaches, gardens, and whatever else she sets her mind to. After twenty-six years together I actually believe she can be good at anything she wants to be good at. Several years ago, I bought her an old, upright piano. It fit perfectly in the front room of our house, and she could sit and write songs surrounded by bay windows and a view of the large, landscaped flower beds in our front yard. The sprinkler system was on well water, so even the Texas heat had a hard time knocking the beauty off the flowers. The piano looked amazing in the room, and when Lauren played a single note, it sounded fine. The sound bounced off the hardwood floors and the ceiling and filled the room. However, when she tried to play a chord, the dissonance was unmistakable.
The problem wasn’t that the piano was broken; it was just out of right relationship with the standard. It was out of tune.
When the piano technician came to tune it, he didn’t smash the piano or replace the keys. He listened, gently adjusted, string by string, key by key, bringing every note back into harmony with A440—the universal pitch standard. When he was done, the piano hadn’t changed its identity. It had become what it was meant to be: rightly related, rightly resonant. That’s righteousness. Not legal perfection but restored harmony. Not behavior for behavior’s sake but fidelity to the relationships for which we were made: relationships with God, others, creation, and ourselves.
Righteousness is not abstract morality, it is fidelity to the relationship in context.
Jesus doesn’t throw the piano away; He retunes the heart. Are you desperately hungry and thirsty for that? Parents are righteous when they nurture and discipline their children in love—not just when they follow a set of parenting rules but when they act in covenant love toward their child (Ephesians 6:4). Friends are righteous when they are loyal, honest, and sacrificial, living out Proverbs 17:17:
A friend loves at all times.
Right friendship involves constancy, not convenience. Judges are righteous when they uphold justice without partiality or bribes (Deuteronomy 16:18–20). It’s not about procedural correctness but fidelity to justice and truth in how they treat people. Business owners are righteous when they pay fair wages and treat employees with dignity (James 5:4). Their righteousness is expressed through relational equity and integrity. Jesus wants us to be rightly related to God, others, creation, and ourselves.
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Becoming Beatitude People
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The Soul’s True Home: Godom
One of the more consistent pictures of our relationship with God as we think about right relatedness is the picture of the covenant of marriage. On July 31, 1999, Lauren and I stood in front of almost all our family and friends, and I made these promises to her and God.
I, Matt, take you, Lauren, to be my wife. To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. To love and to cherish even as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her. To lead you and share all of life’s experiences with you, submitting myself to God’s guidance by His Spirit and His Word, that through His grace, we might grow together into the likeness of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
The language intentionally covers all the bases for an unknown future. No matter how little or abundant our resources are, how healthy or unhealthy our physical bodies become, if in our lives we experience mainly good times or brutally hard ones, I’m not going anywhere. Ephesians 5 says this is a picture of God’s love and desire for us.
In all honesty, I thought girls were kind of gross until what I like to call the day of epiphany. I showed up in the fifth grade and something had shifted. I still loved hanging out with the guys, but man, I was starting to be drawn in by the beauty and grace of a couple of the girls in my school. That shift, awkward and beautiful as it is, speaks to something deeper than hormones or romance. It’s a longing etched into us by God Himself.
In Genesis, the triune God, overflowing with love and a desire to display His glory, creates the cosmos. Then, as a pinnacle expression of His image, He fashions man and woman—not just as individual image-bearers but as a relational pair. Ephesians 5 tells us why: because God was painting on the canvas of creation a picture of His Son’s pursuing love for His bride, the church. Marriage wasn’t just a solution to loneliness—it was a stage for the drama of redemption.
That’s why the Bible consistently uses marriage as the metaphor for God’s covenant relationship with His people. At Sinai, it’s a wedding ceremony—vows exchanged, a covenant sealed (Exodus 19).
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How to Become More Like Jesus
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Through the prophets, God recalls Israel’s early devotion like the young love of a bride (Jeremiah 2:2), even pleading with His wayward people,
Return... for I am married to you. — Jeremiah 3:14 NKJV
When they wander, it’s not framed as mere rebellion; it’s adultery (Ezekiel; Hosea; James 4:4). The picture is stunning and sobering.
To be rightly related to God is to be bound to Him in a covenant of love and fidelity. It means we don’t just believe in Him—we belong to Him. We don’t just obey Him; we delight in Him. And when we stray, His call is not the cold summons of a taskmaster but the anguished plea of a faithful spouse: “Come home. You are mine.”
Right relatedness to God looks like living in a faithful covenant relationship with Him—a life of trust, love, obedience, and intimacy that flows from knowing we are His and He delights in being our God.
That’s why Jesus blesses the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn, hunger, and thirst. Not because these traits make us acceptable but because they reflect hearts turned toward God in dependency and love. Right relatedness means we come to Him with empty hands, knowing we can’t perform our way into His favor, but we long to live in His presence and under His rule. That longing, that hunger is the beginning of satisfaction. How much do you want this?
Could you simply eat of this or are you desperate for it?
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Are you hungry for Jesus? Desperate for Him? If not, maybe the Lord is calling you to return to Him. He loves you! ~ Devotionals Daily
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The Everyday Journey to
Living a Life of Holiness
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+ Free shipping on $20+ with code SPRING20
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Jesus didn't come to find perfect people. Instead, He came to find those hungry for His presence and willing to be transformed into His image.
We often fall into the trap of thinking the Christian life should be a steady climb upward—like a growth line that goes only up and to the right on a graph. We imagine that when we truly follow Jesus, our lives should be free of spiritual failure and full of constant victory. But the reality of walking with God is often much messier. It is a lifelong process of progressive sanctification, where the Holy Spirit uses our ups and downs—our triumphs and our tears—to shape us. God isn't looking for a polished version of you; He is calling you into a deep, transforming relationship where He uses every season to mold you into who He created you to be.
In Becoming Like Jesus, Matt Chandler explores the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 to reveal exactly what this transformation looks like. These famous verses are not a list of impossible moral standards you must achieve to earn God's love. Rather, they are a beautiful description of the character Christ is forming in you by His grace. Jesus wasn't describing eight different groups of people but one disciple who is being remade from the inside out.
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This book is a guide for anyone tired of striving in their own strength and ready to surrender to the Spirit's work. Through these pages, you will learn how to:
- Recognize your spiritual bankruptcy and deepen your dependence on God's grace.
- Process grief and mourning in a way that leads to divine comfort.
- Trade the need for control for a spirit of meekness and strength.
- Cultivate a desperate hunger for righteousness over worldly satisfaction.
- Extend radical mercy to others flowing from the mercy you have received.
- Pursue a pure and undivided heart that sees God clearly.
- Become a peacemaker who brings reconciliation to broken situations.
- Find joy and endurance even when you face persecution for your faith.
Wherever you find yourself today, be encouraged that God is not intimidated by your imperfections. He is actively at work in your life, using every circumstance to fulfill His calling. Dive into Becoming Like Jesus and discover the joy of being shaped, day by day, into the image of the Son.
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Explore more titles from Matt...
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Ends 4/30: Free shipping on $20+ with code SPRING20
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Becoming Like Jesus Bible Study Guide plus Streaming Video
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Becoming Like Jesus
Video Study
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The Lie You Don't Know You Believe
Online Bible Study
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The Lie You Don't Know You Believe Online Bible Study
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Are you burdened by a quiet voice that says you're helpless, unlovable, or worthless?
In The Lie You Don't Know You Believe Bible study, Jennie Allen defines the three core lies that distort our identities and influence our decisions. Journey with her into Matthew chapter 4, where Jesus faced the enemy’s temptations and revealed a decisive truth: God’s Word holds the power to silence every lie that comes against us.
Join The Lie You Don't Know You Believe Online Bible Study and get access to six teaching videos and other helpful tools—all FREE when you sign up!
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this devotion with someone who needs it today
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*Sale price ends on 05/31/26 at 11:59 PM. Limited quantities available. FREE U.S. shipping on orders of $20 or more with code SPRING20 valid through 4/30/26 until 11:59 pm ET.
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