Daily Bread

Daily Bread Daily Bread Jason Grissom / General The Real Jesus / Prayer / Matthew 6:11   THE DEFINITION OF DAILY BREAD What does it mean to ask for daily bread? Whatever is necessary to sustain physical life. The Greek word order of “give us this day our daily bread” reads like a line Yoda would say to Luke Skywalker, “Our daily bread us give this day.” Jesus, the wise master, has designed His model prayer to lay waste to all our selfish schemes. His objective in His orientation is a reorientation. Each section of this prayer turns our hearts toward “Our Father.” Every syllable targeted to weaken our knees — everything specialized, weaponized, toward dependence. Only God is self-sustaining, and when we attempt to live in such a manner, we rob Him of His glory. Weakness is strength in the kingdom of God. THE DESIGN OF DAILY BREAD HUMILITY – “GIVE” “Give us” is not a haughty but humble request. Haughty says, “give us” because we have worked hard and deserve daily bread. There is a scene in the old movie Shenandoah where Jimmy Stewart eats a meal with his children shortly after his wife has died. She had handled all the prayers, but now the children tell him he must pray before dinner. He is no Christian, and his words reflect it. He prays roughly like this: “Dear Lord, thank you for this meal. We plowed the ground, we planted the seed, we pulled the weeds, we harvested the wheat, we ground the flour, we baked the bread, but thank you, Lord, for this meal.” Humility says, “give us” because it is you who gives us the power to get daily bread. We pray for our daily bread, knowing that God created plants for our food. We know he put us in families, where we learned to work. He gave us the strength to plow, plant, and harvest. We do not view these as accidents but as gifts from God. Therefore, we pray, “Give us today our daily bread,” and we thank him whenever we eat. TRUST – “OUR FATHER” Only God is self-sustaining, and when we attempt to live in such a manner, we rob Him of His glory. Weakness is strength in the kingdom of God. It is the object of one’s trust that determines its strength. Our object is “Our Father.” Psalm 33:20–22 ESV Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. Nothing is more beautiful than a child fully trusting in their Father’s word. A child trusting in their Father’s name brings glory to him and their highest good. Most children never worry about their daily needs. Why? Their experience has taught them day in and day out their parent(s) place clothes on their back and food on their table. Children rest as children should in their parent(s) goodness and greatness. In this prayer, God is fostering in us a daily dependence upon himself. No other line in the Lord’s Prayer so sharply challenges the direction of today’s world. Our world teaches us to pursue financial security and independence. Scripture encourages us in Proverbs 6 to pay attention to the ant. She prepares for the future as an expression of trust in God, not to the exclusion of trust in God. The Lord spoke to Joseph about storing up for a future famine that would strike Egypt. There is nothing wrong with planning for the future, but it is wrong to make total independence your consuming goal. Christians should live in prepared dependence. We should be like the ant, prepared while living like birds, dependent. Whether we are rich or poor, God wants us to depend upon him “daily.” He wants us all to pray for our daily needs, and he wants us to daily thank him. Beginning in verse 19 of this chapter, Jesus further elaborates on our need to pray for daily bread. Our bent is toward accumulation and anxiety. Jesus' teaching is bending us towards trust and tranquility. Matthew 6:19–21 ESV “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:24–33 ESV “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. When I read these verses, two thoughts come to mind. Hoarders are not happy, and accumulators are anxious. Jesus designed this prayer for our ultimate happiness. Jesus employs “daily” to teach us moderation. MODERATION – “DAILY” Jesus does not say, “Ask for everything you will ever need.” We should pray for what we need, one day at a time. Jesus urges us to petition God for our daily needs. We pray for every need, not for every desire. Scripture tells us not to pray for wealth. Proverbs 30:7–9 says: Proverbs 30:7–9 ESV Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. Paul adds, 1 Timothy 6:9–10 ESV But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. These passages teach us that to pray for wealth is to pray for temptation. But we pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” Proverbs says wealth tempts us to forget God. Paul says that the quest for wealth can entrap us. So let us not pray for riches. Such Scriptures should not be used to formulate a theology that believes prosperity is evil. There is a difference between becoming wealthy through hard work and working hard to become wealthy. The goal of the first is service for others. The goal of the second is self-service. The first man will have to strive to resist temptation. The second man is asking for temptation. If people living in surplus began to live in moderation, what would be the natural result? GENEROSITY – “OUR” Many of us, statistically speaking, are wealthy. We need this section to reorient our hearts away from greed towards generosity. Jesus does this by employing the powerful plural pronoun “us.” What is greed? At the very least, it is living on 100% of what you earn. We each must vet the definition in our own lives. Once again, our hearts are confronted with change. “Our” reminds us that it is not about me. This gospel-centered prayer confronts my greed and aims to conform me into the image of my generous Father. Most of us live in surplus, not scarcity. In the Old Testament, God told his people not to harvest the edges of their fields but to leave them for the poor. “Our Father” answers “our daily bread” prayers through His people. We are most like our Father when we are generous. There is but one effective weapon against greed, and that is giving. How much should I give? Praying this prayer will enable you to answer that question. 2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Jesus has provided us with weaponized words designed to destroy our anxiety, unhappiness, and depression. His words pave a path that leads our souls into prosperity. “Give us our daily bread” is the language of rest. We work, like the ant, with a light burden, and we trust, like the bird, for He has taken our heavy yoke.