Here’s a gem from Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ collection of sermons entitled Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled:
“The classic statement of this was made by our Lord in his Sermon n the Mount, when he said, ‘Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after’ —happiness, joy, peace? — Not at all — ‘blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled’ (Matthew 5:6, emphasis added). In other words, if you make happiness or joy or peace your one aim and object in life, it is certain you will never find it; but if you put righteousness as your main aim, and if you become so concerned about righteousness and true living that you can be said to be hungering and thirsting after it, well then, says our Lord, you will be filled with happiness. It will follow.
“This, I think you will agree with me, is something that is absolutely vital and fundamental. If you come to the Christian faith merely because of what you want it to do, you will never get that thing, nor will you get anything else. The Bible must be taken in its own way; it must be accepted on its own terms. There are no shortcuts once you begin to deal with God. God demands something that is central from us — He demands total allegiance. You cannot take things out of the gospel of Christ. You must take the gospel as it is without any modification or qualification. So if you want blessedness, you must start with righteousness; otherwise you will never know it.”
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This is good. It reminds me of a quote I heard of Dr. Bob Jones (and this is something he got right): “Happiness is something stumbled upon, on the road to Duty.” Something to that effect. How often I need reminded of this. “blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness”. How often do I find myself unhappy simply because I am not happy. To not thirst after happiness, but righteousness. To fulfill our duties with our whole heart seems to go hand in hand with this. No shortcuts.
Thanks especially for these last two posts. Lots of encouragement here. Kind of along the lines of this post is “He who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Again, thank you!
ahhh. thank you for sharing. 🙂