Blessed ( Isaiah 26 v 9 )

'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness ,for they will be filled.'  ( Matthew 5 v 6 ) Now let me make it clear that these words are spoken to those who are not in anyway trying to establish their own righteousness.It is John Stott who points out that the Jews sought to establish their acceptance by with God by  their own efforts CP Romans 9 v 30 -10 v 4 )The righteousness that saves anyone is the righteousness of Christ,and that alone.Those who have come to trust in Jesus will have a burning desire ,as one writer puts it,'they have passion for righteousness in their own lives, they long to be honest, people of integrity,purity,a thirst to be like Christ.As Luther wrote,'What is required,..is a hunger and thirst for righteousness that can never be curbed or stopped or sated,one that looks for nothing and cares for nothing except the accomplishment and maintenance of the right,  despising everything that hinders that end. If you cannot  make the world pious,then do what you can'.