Our daily bread - Part A
Dr. Roberto Miranda
SUMMARY: As children of God, our priorities should be centered around His will and glory first. Only after recognizing His benevolent fatherhood, sanctifying His name, and declaring His kingdom on earth, can we ask for personal needs, such as daily bread. We must understand that God's agenda takes precedence over ours, and His prerogatives must be satisfied first. When we seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first, we can be confident that all other things, including our daily needs, will be taken care of.
The children of God have their priorities clearly established: first the glory and the will of God, his lordship over our lives. First, the desire that He fulfill His perfect will in and through us. Then our prerogatives and desires. My plans and projects always have to be given in light of God's plans and will.
As we have said before, the Lord's Prayer is a compendium of elements and attitudes that should characterize both our life and our prayers. After recognizing the benevolent fatherhood of God, and his Majesty; after sanctifying his name and declaring his kingdom on earth; after declaring our longing for His will to be carried out fully and without resistance — only then should we feel free to think about our personal needs. The Lord continues, asking: "Give us today our daily bread."
There is a saying that says: "Man proposes and God disposes." This is how it should be. I very tentatively submit my requests to God, but I understand at all times that it is his agenda that takes precedence, not mine. God's prerogatives must be satisfied first, before ours can be taken into consideration. Before asking for “our daily bread”, we will always have to say, “Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth”.
In one of his parables, Jesus graphically describes the correct order of the universe: the master has to satisfy his demands before the needs of the servant can be met: “Which of you, having a servant who plows or grazes cattle, when he returns? he from the field, then he says: Come in, sit at the table? Rather not say to him: Make me dinner, gird yourself, and serve me until I have eaten and drunk; And after that, you eat and drink? "
When we first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then we can be confident that we will receive “all other things,” including our daily bread. Be concerned first with the things of God, and God will certainly take care of yours.
As we have said before, the Lord's Prayer is a compendium of elements and attitudes that should characterize both our life and our prayers. After recognizing the benevolent fatherhood of God, and his Majesty; after sanctifying his name and declaring his kingdom on earth; after declaring our longing for His will to be carried out fully and without resistance — only then should we feel free to think about our personal needs. The Lord continues, asking: "Give us today our daily bread."
There is a saying that says: "Man proposes and God disposes." This is how it should be. I very tentatively submit my requests to God, but I understand at all times that it is his agenda that takes precedence, not mine. God's prerogatives must be satisfied first, before ours can be taken into consideration. Before asking for “our daily bread”, we will always have to say, “Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth”.
In one of his parables, Jesus graphically describes the correct order of the universe: the master has to satisfy his demands before the needs of the servant can be met: “Which of you, having a servant who plows or grazes cattle, when he returns? he from the field, then he says: Come in, sit at the table? Rather not say to him: Make me dinner, gird yourself, and serve me until I have eaten and drunk; And after that, you eat and drink? "
When we first seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then we can be confident that we will receive “all other things,” including our daily bread. Be concerned first with the things of God, and God will certainly take care of yours.
