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Do You Hunger for Righteousness?

By M. John Allen

How many of us, brethren, really, TRULY, hunger and thirst for righteousness? How many of us really, truly STRIVE with every fiber of our being to be as close to God’s way of life as we can be?

We must be honest with ourselves here. It is very human to lie to ourselves and to tell ourselves that we are one way when we are actually the other. Self deception is very common among humans and it can be very deadly for a Christian, brethren, to allow such spiritual blindness to occur.

I am not telling you that you should look to or compare yourselves to other human beings. We have ALL fallen short of the glory of God and His way of life, and the righteousness of even the best of us is only filthy rags before God. so we must NOT make the mistake of comparing ourselves to others. But we must, we absolutely MUST, if we are to take the Passover properly this year, seriously EXAMINE ourselves to see just how close to God’s way of life we are at least STRIVING to accomplish. Our attitude in this situation is of paramount importance here, because God looks on our hearts more than anything else.

But let’s ask ourselves right now this question: do we hunger and thirst to live GOD’S way of life or do we hunger and thirst to live the WORLD’S way of life? And just how do you tell?

Someone said once that our lives consist only of a finite period of time. Once that time is expired, it is over, and it is impossible t go back and relive any section of it. God can tell where our priorities are, then, by looking at how we conduct ourselves, how we live. and He can tell where our priorities are by WHAT WE DO WITH OUR LIFE, OR, MORE PRECISELY, BY HOW WE USE OUR TIME! Brethren, how we use our time does not lie. It will tell with a great deal of certainty where our priorities are in life, and whether we hunger and thirst for righteousness or for the world!

Do we think about God each and every day? Do we spend time reading His Word or an article about His Word? Do we study His Word to grow in knowledge of His way of life? Do we pray, which is our time to talk to Him one on one? We must remember that the world does not know have the invitation to enter His throne room, but the door is open to us and we don’t ev even have to make an appointment! But do we take advantage of it? If we miss prayer, Bible study, or meditation for a day, do we view it as a missed opportunity to learn more about God’s way, or don’t we miss it at all? The answer to that question alone will tell you something about your priorities. And we can never really make up for lost time or missed opportunities.

I have a confession of my own to make. I was a student at ambassador College and I lived in Pasadena for a total of seven years. During a great deal of this time, I went to church, yes, and sometimes I went to Friday night Bible studies, but, sadly, I also missed a lot of Bible studies during that period. Looking back, I regret the missed opportunities for learning more of God that those missed Bible studies represent. There are more of those missed opportunities than I care to count -- but the really sad part is that I can never get those missed opportunities back. And, to make it even more sad, nowhere on the face of this earth today is there such a concentration of God’s people, God’s ministers, and the precious KNOWLEDGE OF GOD as there was then in Pasadena at that time!

Living there at that time, when God was using Mr. Armstrong to PUT GOD’S CHURCH BACK ON HIS TRACK was a tremendous privilege and honor, looking back at it. Going to AC during that time was also an unparalleled opportunity as well.

When I entered God’s college in 1980, it was the first year that the college was really and truly REOPENED for business. The previous year it had only been partially opened for the diploma of Biblical studies program that Mr. Armstrong started the college over with after he had closed down the college.

IN the late 70’s, AC was grossly off the track. There were even worldly college professors and many faculty felt a need to get higher degrees form this world’s universities, which lonely served to infuse them with this world’s VANITY of so called higher education, which is nothing more than vain conceit in God’s eyes. There were unconverted professors teaching at the college, and premarital sex and other sins were running rampant among the student body. And the administration at that time was seeking this WORLD’S so called accreditation, which meant that GOD’S COLLEGE HAD TO ACCOMMODATE SATAN’S WORLD, AND PLEASE IT RATHER THAN GOD!

When Mr. Armstrong recovered form his congestive heart failure and near death in 1977, he saw by 1978 that Ambassador College was no longer God’s kind of college, but, along with the church, the college was GROSSLY OFF GOD’S TRACK and was speeding along at full speed towards becoming just like this world’s colleges and universities, and was in danger of soon no longer being God’s college at all, just like the church was in danger of soon no longer being God’s church. So God revived Mr. Armstrong from near death and inspired him to put His church and college back on His track!

At the time when Mr. Armstrong returned to Pasadena, he discovered that there was no longer any Friday night Bible study, because people preferred to do something else on Friday night to studying God’s Word. He announced he was going to start them up again even if he was the only one there! Sad to say, many times while I was in Pasadena, I was too busy pursuing my own pleasure than to give God some time on His very Sabbath day so that I could learn more of Him. I went to church every Sabbath, but at times my attitude was to do the LEAST I had to to please God. That is a very dangerous attitude to have, brethren, and it is one that could prevent you form entering God’s Kingdom, that’s just how serious it is!

God’s way of life is not a simple matter of mechanical do’s and don’ts, but it is also a matter of ATTITUDE of mind as to which way of life we want to go -- His way or the way of Satan?

Many people, sad to say, view God’s way of life as a BURDEN when in actual fact it is a great BLESSING because we are learning God’s very way of life, which leads to the fulfillment of our incredible human potential, which is the only reason we are alive. Think about that for a moment. the only reason we exist is to fulfill God’s purpose in our life!

So many of us have lost sight of this fact because we are too busy fighting and bickering among ourselves over little points of doctrine that we have lost sight of the big picture. As Mr. Armstrong said so often, this life is no more than a temporary physical chemical existence. In fact, it isn’t real life at all, it is just a vapor that passes away or like dew on the grass in the morning, as the Bible says. it is nothing. Just a dream in the night or a puff of smoke that is quickly gone. God, on the other hand, has self existent, eternal, spiritual life that is INHERENT WITHIN HIMSELF! He doesn’t have to eat food, breath, or drink water to live. He is not dependent on anything external to Himself to continue His existence. He has everlasting life.

He is willing to share that life with us, though, if we will LEARN His way of life and strive with every fiber in our being to work with Him to attain our incredible human potential. All God wants is that we will LEARN His way of life, which brings happiness, joy, abundance, and well being to all who will live it. he only wants us to LEARN this way of happiness so that He can then entrust us with the tremendous GIFT of eternal self existent life like He already has and so desperately wants to give us! That’s all, but if we refuse, like rebellious, spoiled little children to learn this supreme lesson of life, then He will not be able to entrust us with His marvelous gift of real life for the future eternity because He does not wish to create another Satan! That would be both wrong to us and wrong to everyone else in the Kingdom of God.

And we can TELL how we are doing on this journey of life by how we use our time, day by day and week by week. If we are diligent and cultivate the fields of our main avocation, we are then learning more of God’s way day by day and drinking in more of His Holy Spirit, which gives us the POWER of God to overcome sin and the world. But, if, instead, we are wasting our time and therefore our lives on idle pursuits that don’t contribute to learning more of God’s way, but which instead teaches us SATAN’S way, then we are failing our life’s test and headed off of God’s track. It’s just as simple as that. it’s a matter of wanting to get as close to God as possible instead of trying to see how close to the world we can get.!

Another indicator of our attitude is what we do with our money. so many people argue about whether God REQUIRES us to give Him 10% or more of our income. We would like to think He doesn’t LEGALLY require a full tithe. I have seen some very convincing arguments against tithing, and, frankly, it is possible that it is not LEGALLY required by God’s law today. But does this mean that we are off the hook? If you have God’s Spirit within you, you will no that it makes no difference at all whether God LEGALLY requires 10% or not! The mere fact that at one time God SUGGESTED or perhaps at that time legally required 10% of certain classes of income should be enough for us to show God’s intent! His mere suggestion should be our command, not because we HAVE to do something, but because we WANT TO DO IT because we understand the important lessons we can thus learn. it is the lesson of learning t he GIVE way of life as opposed to the GET way of life that is important to God. God doesn’t need our money. But He wants to see where our heart is, so He tests us with money because He knows where our heart is so often. he knows that carnal human lust after and strive to attain money. And so He tests us there and He also tests us with our time, which is another thing we are reluctant to let go of!

So, instead of stupid arguments on the legality of tithing, let’s learn the lesson in one important story:

“Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money in the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came in and put in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Him and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.’” [Mk. 12:41-44]

These verses aren’t quoted very much by the ministry in most churches, because verses like this make people feel uncomfortable. And when verses like this are quoted, people naturally recoil from the idea that God might require all that we have and all that we are! Yet, this is exactly what He requires! But the great discovery we will make if we surrender our al to Him is that He not only gives us our life back, but He gives it back with interest! This is to teach us His way of life!

If you can’t see this point yet, and your minister won’t tell you because it is too much for him to accept also, notice this story, and remember that these are not isolated incidents or scriptures, especially in the New Testament. You must stop rebelling and realize that yes, GOD DOES WANT OUR ALL!

“Now a certain ruler asked Him saying, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’

“So Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.

“‘You know the commandments: “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder, “Do not steal,” “Do not bear false witness,” Honor your father and your mother.”’

“And he said, ‘All these I have kept from my youth.’

“So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, ‘You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me.’

“But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he became sorrowful, He said, ‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel t go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’

“And those who heard it said, ‘Who then can be saved?’

“But He said, ‘The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.’

“Then Peter said, ‘See, we have left all and followed You.’

“So He said to them, ‘Assuredly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come everlasting life.” [Lk. 18:18-30]

I fail to see how much clearer God could make it. IN the Old Testament, god asked people to tithe 10% of their income, plus offerings on Holy Days. but Jesus told people HE WANTS EVERYTHING WE ARE AND EVERYTHING WE HAVE, and once we give it, then He will turn around an d GIVE US BACK MORE THAN WHAT WE GAVE TO HIM, even in this life, and then entail life in His Kingdom! But, sadly, even the ministry in God’s church has not taught these plain things because BOTH THEY AND THE PEOPLE REFUSE TO GIVE THEIR ALL TO GOD!

Paul said that we are to become LIVING SACRIFICES to God. That is because God is teaching us His way of GIVE, so that we will continue living that way for all eternity.

Now He leaves it up to you to decide just how far you will follow Him. I know I have had trouble with this in my own life. I know that God wants my all, but it is so hard t hand over control of my life, my property, and my future to anyone else, even God. We as humans want to have things and to be in control, but we must realize that God expects us to voluntarily give our ALL to Him if we are to ever really learn to live His way of life.

I am not telling you to immediately go out and sell your house or car right this minute. That is between you and God. Some people love God more than anything else, and of those people He might not ask this. But some people, in fact most people, have an area of their lives that they don’t want God to put His nose into. Well, it is in this very area that God will intervene and force you to make a choice between HIM and whatever else it is that stands between you and God. If you are to enter His kingdom, all the idols in your life will have to be smashed first!

But before you comfort yourself that God may not ask you to get rid of your worldly possessions and get together with your brothers and sisters in t he faith so that you can serve Him and His Church better, read Acts 4:32-37 and 5:12-16, and also read the last two chapters of my book, The Restoration of Truth, in the Library section of this website. Then, you will be better able to make up your mind abut what God wants for you in your own life.

We are beginning to form a community of believers here at headquarters in Costa Rica. Please read my current co-worker letter in this regard. We are making the first tentative steps t truly restore God’s way of life on this earth, and to provide the means so that His church can proclaim His Gospel message to a soon dying world.

I suggest before this coming Passover that you pray to God and let Him show you what idols may be blocking your path to His Kingdom, and then ask Him to remove them from your life so that your attainment of salvation will not be blocked. Let’s start living God’s way of life every day of our lives.