"Give us this day our daily bread." Matt. 6:11
After the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how they should pray, He told them of the hypocrites and how they prayed for the praise of men and not unto God; warning them to "not be as the hypocrites" (v.5). Christ instructed them saying: "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." (v. 9-13). Let us consider, for just a moment, the portion of scripture "Give us this day our daily bread."
It is important to note that Jesus, just a few verses after his example of prayer, exhorted us saying, "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall EAT, or what ye shall drink;" (Matt. 6:25), so we know that He was not speaking of physical bread, but of something far greater in the life of every believer; something that we (as Christians) must partake of every day of our lives. Yet still the question probes the scriptures "What is our daily bread?"
We can find the answer in the sixth chapter of the book of John, in the 51st verse we read: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." So we see that the bread we are to partake of daily is the sufferings of our LORD Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:18, Phil. 3:10, 2 Cor. 1:5-7, Col. 1:24, 1 Pt. 4:13), the crucifying of those things which are against God, i.e. our sinful and carnal wants and desires (Rom. 6:6, Gal. 2:20, Gal. 5:24, Gal. 6:14).
Therefore we see that truly "no flesh should glory in his presence"(1 Cor. 1:29), for "there shall no flesh be justified in his sight" (Rom. 3:20). Christians, it is time that we start to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the JOY that was set before him ENDURED the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb. 12:1-2) Let us therefore "endure" the "sufferings of this present time," willingly resisting sin, that we might be partakers of that JOY. |
