Bread. It has a sustaining power to satisfy our hunger. It gives life. It quiets the pains and grumblings of our emptiness ~ for a little while. When bread is baking it has a sweet, sensational aroma that causes our mouths to water. It's irresistible! We crave it! We can't stand to wait for it. When it's cooled enough to eat we even fight over who gets the first piece. Oh what a treat to bite into a warm, freshly baked piece of bread with soft butter slathered all over it! We just can't get enough!
At the end of Matthew 6, the disciples are asking Jesus how to pray and there we find what we have titled "The Lord's Prayer." In the middle of the prayer Jesus says we should ask for our daily bread (v. 11) "Give us this day our daily bread." Is this talking about our physical needs for the basics of food & shelter? I think it's more. I think Jesus is alluding to himself as our daily bread.
At the end of Matthew 6, the disciples are asking Jesus how to pray and there we find what we have titled "The Lord's Prayer." In the middle of the prayer Jesus says we should ask for our daily bread (v. 11) "Give us this day our daily bread." Is this talking about our physical needs for the basics of food & shelter? I think it's more. I think Jesus is alluding to himself as our daily bread.
If you look in John 6, Jesus pronounces himself as the bread of life. The bread that sustains us throughout our lives and to eternity. He is the bread that fills us so that we should never hunger for anything more. How much more should we react to Jesus the way we do to a silly loaf of bread? Bread is baked, broken, eaten and gone. Then we demand more, make more, bake more, eat more. Bread only satisfies for a short time. He says in John 6:27 "Do not work for food that spoils but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. (v.33) For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. (v.38) For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. (v. 40) For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (v47) I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE."
Oh, that we would take the time to smell the sweet aroma of the presence of Christ that fills the whole house when we invite him in. "Give us this day our daily bread." Then sup with him on the bread of heaven, his Word (spoken and written). Then, we are truly satisfied.
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