Our Daily Bread

Reference

Matthew 6:11, Matthew 6:31-34, John 6:48-51

SPECIAL FEATURE

Great is the Lord
Words & Music by Carson Li @KEC Worship

MESSAGE SUMMARY

We live in a world where some people worry about basic needs while others have way too much. Shouldn’t everyone have enough? That’s what is brilliant about the fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us today our daily bread?” When we pray for daily bread our trust in God’s provision grows.

What is this daily bread? The first thing that would come to mind for the original disciples was the story of God providing manna in the wilderness in the book of Exodus. That was quite literally daily bread. Jesus is teaching radical dependency on God similar to what he teaches in the Sermon on the Mount about not worrying about tomorrow, but trusting God for today.

Notice the pronouns in this prayer: us/our, not me/my. This is a prayer on behalf of others and ourselves, asking God for what we need. It is a prayer for justice, that God would feed the hungry.

Bread is literal and symbolic in this prayer. We need food, but we also pray for God’s provision of all basic needs. Beyond all basic needs, Jesus is our spiritual bread. What we all need more than anything is the new life that Christ gives – his life in us!

How do we respond?