But I haven’t mended my daughter’s torn jacket, and it’s sitting on top of the roll top desk. I know my pantry is from God and I want to share it while I have opportunity. If I really live in the attitude that my possessions could be gone at any time, I’ll be more grateful than ever for them, and more willing to share my abundance. If I am asking God for daily sustenance, I won’t feel superior to others just because my freezer is full. Tip 1: Ask God for daily food, knowing what you have could be gone at any moment. These tips fit perfectly in today’s post, because asking God for daily bread is a great tip to start with. Last week, I told you I wanted to share some tips I’ve discovered for hospitality to a wide variety of people. Why This Line Perfectly Positions Us For Sharing our Tables We are all supposed to ask God to sustain us through THIS day. Everyone is asked to pray, “Give us our daily bread.” Jesus doesn’t say, “If you are facing tragedy, poverty, or war, pray for your daily bread.” He doesn’t say, “If you are well-to-do, pray that your blessings won’t be taken away.” The prayer notably omits any clarifications. Jesus says, “Ask God only for what you need today. Not for all the days ahead.” Perhaps it is sickness, grief or unstoppable migraines. When tragedy strikes, Jesus says, “Ask God for what you need today. It seems that Jesus is saying, just ask me for what you need today. There’s a lot of emphasis these days on “being present” and “living in the moment.” Jesus has had that covered for 2,000 years, with his instructions that we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” I guess since it’s lifted right out of Jesus’ perfect prayer, I shouldn’t be surprised to find it life-giving. The fact that we don’t expect it has nothing to do with whether or not it could happen. It is entirely possible that it could happen to us some day. Just a year ago, the 17 hostages kidnapped in Haiti were freed after 62 days of food insecurity and malnutrition. Many people on the globe are living these exact scenarios. War could flatten everything we know in seconds. Economic or political changes could take away our ability to buy food. A disease could deprive us of our ability to eat. Perhaps we forget that a fire could consume everything in our house at a moment’s notice. We’ve been living with plenty for so long, that it doesn’t occur to us that there could come a time when we would not have ready access to food. I have a feeling that people like me who ask this question, are the ones who most need to pray, “Give us food.” What’s the point in asking God for something we already have? We have enough food in our house to last a month. So let’s dive in with a question about line 4. And yet…maybe it’s message is all about the hope that Jesus brought to earth, the peace among men. “God is great and God is good” is not a Christmas song. It’s funny that this is my last post before Christmas (unless I get an unexpected inspiration while on vacation to visit family in Wisconsin). The final installment of a series about the prayer song below, discussing line 4.
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