Daily Devotionals

'Every Day Light' with Selwyn Hughes

Devotional: May 3rd

For Reading and Meditation:
     Philippians 3:7-21

Today we ask: What happens to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness? The answer is clear: they will be filled. Make righteousness your goal and you will be eternally satisfied. If, once again, I might venture upon a paraphrase of my own, I would put it like this: "Congratulations to those who ardently crave to become more and more like Me and to know My righteousness, for they shall find a satisfaction that will never vanish or be destroyed." May I be permitted to ask you this personal question: What are you most hungering and thirsting for? Is it health? Is it relief from pain? Is it freedom from anxiety? Is it financial security? All of these are legitimate cravings, but if your primary hunger and thirst is not to become more and more like Christ, then you will experience an inner emptiness that nothing you chase after can fill. Let me point out one more thing - something that might astonish you: to the extent that your deepest hunger and thirst is not for God, to that extent you will experience spiritual and psychological problems. If you are not hungering and thirsting after Him, you will hunger and thirst after something else. When we make it our goal to glorify God, then we will enjoy Him. We must not make it our goal to enjoy Him in order to glorify Him. Remember the goal of happiness is elusive, regardless of how well- thought-out is our strategy. But the by-product of happiness is freely available to those whose goal is to know God and be found in Him.

Father, You are teaching me Your ways - written in Your Word and also in me. Help me to surrender to Your purposes so that I might be the vehicle of victory. Amen.