Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”- John 6:35 (ESV)
In Chapter 7 (“Give Us Today the Food We Need: Ask Jesus for Help”) of The Wall Around Your Heart, author Mary DeMuth takes particular note of two words in the phrase “give us today the food we need”: us and today. She emphasizes that this prayer is even more important for those enduring pain inflicted by others. All of us need God’s daily grace and forgiveness. God promises that He will meet us right now.
Mary adds that the people of Jesus’ day exemplified daily dependence on God for everything, a concept very difficult to imagine in our consumer-driven society. Yet we also are called to that moment-by-moment dependence, as Shane Claiborne explains in Red Letter Revolution:
“[The Lord’s Prayer] is a prayer that the poor know well. It is also a warning to those of use who might pray for tomorrow’s bread or those of us who might pray for a steak. We are not to pray for ‘my bread’ but to cry out with the poor for ‘our’ daily bread. We are not to pray for the poor, but to pray with them- and to realize that as long as anyone is hungry, all of us are hungry.”
As we draw strength from our moment-by-moment dependence on Jesus, we are enabled to live openhearted lives.
Today’s question: During your desert, land between time, what opportunities has the Lord given you to minister to others? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Holy contentment in the moment”
