Daily Bread
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray in Matthew 6:9-13
Ά "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
He taught them to, first, honor the Father (v. 9), then to express their sincere desire that His kingdom and His will would reign in all places (v. 10) After God was properly honored, it was only then that Jesus made the request "Give us this day our daily bread" a part of their instruction of how to pray (v. 11) .[It is important to note that He did not teach the disciples to ask for a seven-course meal or an all-you-can-eat buffet, just the food they needed and that was a day-to-day need, not a six-month supply.] He then taught them to request their spiritual needs be filled also (v. 12), and that He guide them in the right way (v. 13a). He closed the instructional prayer by showing us we should have a firm belief in His authority, power, and glory over all things and is able to fulfill these requests (v. 13b).The exact wording of this prayer was not the point of His instruction, but the manner in which His disciples should pray (v. 9).
As we consider the instruction of our Lord in this passage, let us take a few minutes to look at just a portion of this in a slightly different way. Let us consider for today
the instruction of Jesus that we ask for our "daily bread," but instead of the literal [physical] bread, let us consider the disciple's need for a daily supply of spiritual "bread."
I believe we all understand the need for our daily physical food of which Jesus speaks.
None of us has to be told to eat! As the old joke goes: 'You can call me anything, but don't call me late for dinner!' If you are anything like me, your stomach will let you know
well enough when it is time to eat again, and if the stomach doesn't get my attention, the rest of my body will when my energy level drops too low. Sometimes, I even get headaches!
What is troublesome to see in the physical sense are those who do not have a proper appetite for the necessary food. In this nation of overeaters, there are a few who suffer from eating disorders that cause them to either have no desire for food [anorexia] and thus starve themselves, or to go to the other end and gorge themselves on food continuously, while purging [the nice way of saying 'vomiting'] it all later in order to rid their body of the excess [bulimia]. In each case, the body is deprived of its necessary nutrients and the individual suffers starvation and a decline in their physical strength. Some do, in fact, die because of these disorders.
Friends and brethren, do we not recognize these same symptoms among some today
spiritually speaking? Are there not some who lack the proper 'daily requirements' of the
spiritual bread some who seem to have no appetite for the bread of life, some who 'purge' themselves of the word instead of ingesting it to help their spiritual strengthening and growth, and who are spiritually starving themselves to death? I believe there are!
Jesus said, "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to
everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set
His seal on Him." (John 6:27) He was merely pointing out the fact that some crave food,
but the wrong kind of food. No, He was not saying we shouldn't eat physical food, only that we desire the more important spiritual food that will sustain us for an eternity. While we all need to eat the physical food to maintain our physical existence, we need to provide for ourselves a regular and continuous supply of the spiritual food if we want to maintain our spiritual body. Physical food is certainly important and necessary for our existence, so we should recognize that spiritual food is just as necessary for the continuation of our spiritual existence. Just as the apostle Paul said, "For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come" (1 Tim. 4:8), so should we recognize the spiritual supply of food is far better than a daily intake of our [needed] daily physical food.
What, then, is this spiritual bread? Jesus answers this in John 6, on an occasion when He fed literal bread to thousands who had followed Him "because they saw His signs which he performed on those who were diseased." (v. 2) After He had fed them and many still followed Him the next day, Jesus rebuked the people for seeking the wrong kind of food. Beginning in verse 26, Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled." As we mentioned already, He would then tell them they should seek the everlasting bread (v. 27) but what was it? He would explain: "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." (v. 33) To clarify this, He said,
"I am the bread of life" (vv. 35, 48), "I am the bread which came down from heaven" (v. 41), and "I am the living bread which came down from heaven and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" (v. 51).
To further illustrate the importance of this spiritual bread, Jesus tells them, "He who comes to Me shall never hunger" (v. 35), "one may eat of it and not die" (v. 50), "
If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever" (vv. 51, 58), and, "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life" (v. 54). Though many in the audience were confused by his words, the point of this was to get them to redirect their attention to matters much more important than the physical food they sought that only satisfied for a short while, onto the everlasting and eternal life-giving spiritual bread: Jesus Himself. Instead of filling themselves up with the bread He had provided for them miraculously, they should have been seeking to fill themselves up with Jesus! They needed the spiritual food more desperately than the physical! In explaining the spiritual bread, we find that the life-giving bread is Jesus Himself. When He offered up His flesh and blood as the atoning sacrifice, He gave to us the spiritual food, or sustenance, that would provide to obedient men eternal life. Those who come to Him and seek His counsel, believe his words, and obey His doctrine, will obtain for themselves [through His righteous deed] eternal life. This life-giving bread will not cease its effective life-giving power, but will sustain us throughout eternity as long as we continue to eat of it!
And there is the rub. Oftentimes, we forget to "come to Him" that we might partake of that spiritual bread and strengthen the spiritual man. Oftentimes, we feed ourselves with "junk food" that satisfies for awhile and "fills us up," but has no redeeming value or fortifying power. Oftentimes, we go to Him so rarely that the spiritual body becomes weak and is overcome with the cares, riches, and pleasures of the world because we have let the word be choked out of us (Luke 8:14). Some have become spiritually bulimic, who vomit out the beneficial food and end up starving themselves, or avoid feeding themselves altogether (spiritual anorexics).
In all cases, the spiritual body is weakened, and too often some die spiritually for lack of nourishment. Let us not neglect our spiritual bodies and let us ensure we are getting our "Recommended Daily Allowances" of spiritual food by coming to Christ and feeding on His words, and with a desire for the "pure milk of the word, that (we) may grow thereby" (1 Pet. 2:2). Let us seek the life-giving words of Jesus that will help us to grow up and into strong and faithful disciples that are capable of withstanding our enemies' attacks on the spiritual body. And let us exercise our senses "to discern good and evil" that we may partake of the "solid food" that will make us even stronger (Heb. 5:13, 14). Let us say, as the disciples did, "Lord, give us this bread always." (John 6:34)
Steven Harper
Truth is as old as God
His Twin identity
And will endure as long as He
A Co-Eternity Emily Dickinson