February 20

Read: Psalms 42:1-2

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).

Where There Is Need, There Is Satisfaction

“Set over against the holy demand of the holy God is the inescapable fact that the regenerate man is not holy. The regenerate life he has received is holy, but an unholy element remains in him. This is admitted in the Articles of Religion of the Church of England and other Episcopal bodies, with those of the Methodist tradition. The Book of Common Prayer says of original or birth-sin, ‘this infection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are regenerated.’ These words describe as clearly as did Wesley the condition of the unsanctified heart.

“The need of heart purity has been sensed to the point of agony by thousands of devout Christians who never heard the doctrine of full salvation proclaimed. The diaries and journals of many betray their dissatisfaction of soul and their desire for deliverance. Sighs for heaven bulk large in their confessions, for there they hope to be free from sin.

“Is there nothing this side of heaven to match the need and meet the desire of believers who are keenly conscious of inbred sin? Is there no provision that reaches to the height of God’s demand and to the depth of man’s hunger? If not, we are of all men most miserable. If there is, we can say to God as did Augustine, ‘Grant what thou commandest, and then command what thou wilt.’

“God is faithful who has promised, and the promise stimulates the desire for the fullness of love. He will not mock the hunger He has aroused. He says, ‘Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled'” (Holiness The Finished Foundation, J. Paul Taylor).

Breathe on me, Breath of God, Till I am wholly thine, Until this earthly part of me Glows with thy fire divine.

— Hymns Of The Living Faith