What is the greatest need of the church today?

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

Mt. 5:6"

"My soul thirsts for God, for the living God"

Ps. 42:2

"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you;"

Ps. 63:1

"Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger; and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."

Jn. 6:35

"Hunger and thirst vividly express desire...for the deepest spiritual famine is hunger for the word of God."1  We hunger and thirst for many things in this world and they leave us wanting more. The things of this world grab our attention and we are to easily satisfied. 

Many are asking these days, 'what is the greatest need of the church today?' The answers offered abound, and many have pinpointed great needs but they miss the big picture. A.W. Tozer wrote, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." 

This is true because all the we feel and do flows out of our thinking. If we look at the church in America and its practices we clearly see that there is some disturbingly wrong thinking about who God is. 

"The one thing we most urgently need in Western Christendom is a deeper knowledge of God. We need to know God better." 2  Jesus said that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness would be satisfied and that those who come to him and believe would never be hungry or thirst. His promise is that rivers of Living Water will flow out of our hearts through faith.

My soul is greatly comforted by these great promises from our God and King. My question is, 'where are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness?' Where are the people who will cry out with the psalmist, "my soul thirsts for God, for the living God."?

I pray that the LORD would give you an ever-deepening desire for him and an unquenchable hunger and thirst for righteousness.

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, 'Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.' Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long.

In Jesus' name. Amen 3

1. D.A. Carson - Expositor's bible Commentary, Matthew 1-12
2. D.A. Carson - A Call To Spiritual Reformation
3. A.W. Tozer - The Pursuit of God