Our daily bread - Part B
Dr. Roberto Miranda
SUMMARY: The Lord's Prayer includes the request for "our daily bread," emphasizing our dependence on God for sustenance. We should not be overly concerned about the future, but trust in God's provision for our daily needs. The attitude of total trust and dependence on God is important, and sometimes God trains us in the life of faith by providing only enough for each day. By learning to depend on God, our faith grows and we can trust Him for our daily sustenance. We should put aside anxiety about the future and trust in God's provision.
The Lord Jesus Christ was always very precise in the use of his words. That is why it is important to note that he said, "our daily bread." He did not say, for example, "our bread for life." As with the manna that the Hebrews received each day in the wilderness, the child of God must depend on God for his daily supply, and beware of all greed and greed. It does not mean that we live carefree lives, thinking only of the present. But neither should we obsess too much about the future, knowing that our life rests in the hands of a loving Father, who will not allow us to lack sustenance and shelter.
The idea of storing too much, of being overly concerned about tomorrow and what is to come, is foreign to the mindset of a mature Christian, aware that God is his faithful provider. The Lord Jesus Christ has said, "Do not worry about what you eat, what you drink, and do not be anxious about what you eat" (Luke 12:29). In that same passage, he rather invites us to focus first on the things that pertain to his kingdom and its principles, and to trust that the rest will come organically, as in addition (vs. 31).
God wants to engender in us an attitude of total trust and dependence on Him. That is why many times He chooses to train us in the life of faith, for a time giving us only enough for the needs of each day. Many times when we have learned to trust Him totally and shed our dependence on material things, then abundance and prosperity come.
I remember the text in which Jesus sends his disciples on one of his first missionary trips. The story says that “he ordered them not to take anything for the road, but only the staff; no saddlebag, no bread, no money in the belt, but they should wear sandals, and not wear two tunics ”(Mark 6: 8 and 9). It was in the interests of these missionaries-in-training to learn to depend on God for their sustenance; having to get up each day and wonder where their next meal would come from, or where they would be staying the next night. By realizing over and over again that their heavenly Father would not fail them, and that He would always respond to them in miraculous ways to provide for their needs, the faith of these future servants of God would grow, and they would learn to trust Him for their daily sustenance. .
So God wants us to put aside anxiety about tomorrow, too, and learn to trust him for each day's provision. We will never be disappointed!
The idea of storing too much, of being overly concerned about tomorrow and what is to come, is foreign to the mindset of a mature Christian, aware that God is his faithful provider. The Lord Jesus Christ has said, "Do not worry about what you eat, what you drink, and do not be anxious about what you eat" (Luke 12:29). In that same passage, he rather invites us to focus first on the things that pertain to his kingdom and its principles, and to trust that the rest will come organically, as in addition (vs. 31).
God wants to engender in us an attitude of total trust and dependence on Him. That is why many times He chooses to train us in the life of faith, for a time giving us only enough for the needs of each day. Many times when we have learned to trust Him totally and shed our dependence on material things, then abundance and prosperity come.
I remember the text in which Jesus sends his disciples on one of his first missionary trips. The story says that “he ordered them not to take anything for the road, but only the staff; no saddlebag, no bread, no money in the belt, but they should wear sandals, and not wear two tunics ”(Mark 6: 8 and 9). It was in the interests of these missionaries-in-training to learn to depend on God for their sustenance; having to get up each day and wonder where their next meal would come from, or where they would be staying the next night. By realizing over and over again that their heavenly Father would not fail them, and that He would always respond to them in miraculous ways to provide for their needs, the faith of these future servants of God would grow, and they would learn to trust Him for their daily sustenance. .
So God wants us to put aside anxiety about tomorrow, too, and learn to trust him for each day's provision. We will never be disappointed!
