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Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness:
for they shall be filled.
"Understand here," says Luther, "the external righteousness before men, how we are to conduct ourselves toward one another." It is the godly life which His disciples lead that the Lord here blesses. His Christians do not live for themselves, as do the children of the world, but spend their lives in the service of God and of their fellow men. They earnestly strive to let the light of their faith so shine before men that the latter may see their good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven. But with all their endeavor they never attain perfection; so they hunger and thirst after it, strive and labor for it, as long as they live.
What gives them such lifelong desire for a pious life? The Word of God, as Luther again says: "You can notice this hunger and thirst in a man when he loves to hear and read the Word of God; for the same can assuredly hope of being sustained and comforted by the Word in all kinds of temptation, tribulation, and death. But they which are 'filled,' that is, they who do not hear or read God's Word, but cast it to the winds and despise it, shall finally hunger and thirst so that no one will refresh them with the least drop of water, as happened to the rich man in hell."
[Luke 16:19-31]
"It is evident that there are many poor people who scarcely have enough dry bread to eat, whom God gives over to poverty because they care nothing for His Word, are slothful in their labor, and lead a disreputable life, whereby they destroy God's blessing so that He cannot help them, much as He would like to help them... But to His Christians He says: Ye shall find My richest blessing in due time, even here on earth, and afterward all fullness throughout eternity. Hence this promise concerns the pious Christians, who are often poor and distressed in this world and scarcely have their daily bread. But they are not to grow discouraged, but to continue in their piety and fear of God, hoping that God will not always withhold His blessing."
Grant me the strength to do,
With ready heart and willing,
Whate'er Thou shalt command,
My calling here fulfilling;
To do it when I ought,
With all my might, and bless
The work I thus have wrought,
For Thou must give success.
Benediction
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all.
Amen.
[devotion text by Rev. F. W. Herzberger (1920) -
from the Family Altar - CPH (1957 edition)]
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