Consider this for a moment: the eternal God gives lasting gifts. You may think, Yeah, I know that, but really take in the implications.
I’m a stickler for quality. I don’t mind paying more if I am certain the item will last for years to come. That’s not having ‘expensive taste’ or ‘keeping up with the Joneses’, in my opinion. It’s actually saving me money and the hassle of replacing goods. I too like lasting things.
And what God gives you and me are eternal possessions, inasmuch as they belong to him, the Eternal One. God’s gifts proceed from his own good nature, just as light and warmth proceed from the sun. Without the sun we earthlings couldn’t survive; Jesus says the same: “Without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). All love, mercy, and virtue shine upon us from the glorious God—he being as much the gift as its expression.
God’s Greatest Gift to Us
One gift so many people, including Christians, take for granted is our humanity. I think folk miss out on quality life by either disrespecting their humanity or by not dignifying it and giving it proper expression. Many Christians hold a distorted or wrong anthropology and don’t understand that we were created as humans to eternally exist as humans glorifying God with our humanity. My goodness—Jesus represents us now in Heaven with a human body. I cannot imagine that he lived a crummy earthly life.
I don’t dispute the fact of sin and the depravity of the soul as a present reality. Still, although sin marred the creation, it never effaced the glory of God in it. The angels in Isaiah’s vision cried, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isa. 6:3).
Free Yourself
In Christ we have restored freedom to be as human as possible in this life. Let that sink in: free to enjoy life. Jesus modeled a perfect humanity. I think that if we studied his words and life and the deep implications, we could free ourselves from rote and weighty behavior patterns that suck life out of us rather than give us life. We would see that there are far fewer restrictions on our lives pertaining to what it takes to please the Lord and just to experience genuine happiness.
Some people regard the Bible like a big red stop sign: “You can’t do that! You’ll be punished! God is angry!” But it was after I studied portions of the Old Testament prophets (yes) that I discovered just how loving God is and that all his words to us are a “Go!” rather than a no.
I wonder if we unnecessarily tie ourselves in knots sometimes.
Thus, we are free to celebrate and explore our passions, to embrace one another, to develop the virtues within, to enhance our talents, to soak in nature and art, to wonder and draw near to God by it—more gifts he gives.
In Yet a Little While…
Is this not the most fitting way to honor the God who bestows these good and lasting things? And how inseparable they are from our very human nature! It is how we process our existence…humanity is our existence. We are not angels or spirits nor were we intended to be. Instead, God has deemed it that we praise him best as humans; and I will accomplish that by being the best human I can be.
So I honor God and this great gift he’s given me by unpacking all the treasure he’s placed within me. I do it by cherishing others and building lasting relationships. I do it by fighting sin and storing up spiritual wealth. I do it by clarifying his will in my life. I do it by having uninhibited fun. And I do it by gleaning from every experience because I know my growth will continue in the life to come.
I cannot wait to see myself in resurrection with perfect form, within and without. You know, we’ll spend time in Heaven but we’ll return with our King, arrayed in immortal bodies, to a gloriously new earth. I believe that.
What excites me is that the gifts, talents, and virtues—that ‘spiritual wealth’—we amass now…things we love and that God has given us to perfect: they hold much value for that time, although we cannot fathom how. I surmise that this present life is just too important and too short to squander.
Every gift from God should ultimately become a gift back to him. Vibrant, godly, authentic humanity is our best worship.
Do not be hastily critical of Christianity as religion. It is the door by which we enter faith. We are to blame, however, should we not walk along far enough and discover relationship, for it is the heart of the house. What do you seek? If religion is what you seek, then religion is all you will get. But if it is Christ whom you desire, then he will surely be found by you—and your religion will lead you to him.
There are the passionate believers who gripe that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship—and then there’s me.
Trust me: I’m not looking for a fight or trying to be right; I just need to add some depth to the discussion. After all, in a purely superficial way, none of us would be Christians if Christianity wasn’t a religion, its earliest defenders having fought to the death for its doctrines and orthodoxy.
So there is more to be said about what is meant by these comments and still more that some of us need to understand about the worth of religious practice.
Religious Practices
My first task here is to pare down the word “religion” to emphasize the practice and ritual aspects of the word, which is broad and encompasses far-ranging elements, like culture, belief systems, and deities; and focusing on religious practice, enjoin it with our faith and beliefs in the Christian God.
Being so mindful then, what any of us will learn about all religions is that they entail personal and corporate rituals that connect adherents to a deeper reality, spirituality, or divinity. What Christians may find surprising is that their disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and the like are very much the same practices found in other religions, although they may be performed differently and toward a different end.
Spiritual disciplines (or practices, habits) are tools of the interior life that usher a person into a deeper and more meaningful experience and interaction with his or her value system or divinity. They achieve this by introducing behaviors that eliminate vice, produce virtue, develop restraint, and refine sensibilities; personal results can be highly transformational. Such ardent practice will achieve its purpose whether one is Christian or Hindu.
Christian Spiritual Habits
Christian spiritual formation uses religious habits to develop a loving fellowship with Jesus Christ. Christians practice a catalog of spiritual habits to achieve this: (more common ones like) study (devotional and academic) to know God through the Bible and theology; meditation to fill the soul with God’s words and thoughts; prayer and fasting; confession; worship; (and less common ones like) hospitality and secrecy.
These are very much aspects of religion and an essential part of Christian faith.
Spiritual habits, however, do not guarantee that the one practicing them is connecting (in this case) to God. We all should seek to be very devout persons, but not all will be because, truthfully, they don’t care to be. We should be more concerned, however, about those who do go through the motions…pray, read their Bibles, church, yet their lives evince little evidence of Christ. Either way, there is always more waiting for us.
The beleaguered Christians I referenced earlier are really insisting against being caught up in a system of rules and legalistic injunctions that would extinguish a vibrant faith rather than enhance it. I understand this. But religion and religious practice, although we can personally make it tedious and false, is not the problem.
Buried Treasure
I find that we skip to the relationship aspect of Christianity so quickly that we largely miss the depth and range of Christian religion, in general, and certainly its practice. Ask most people in our churches today anything about classic Christian spirituality, and you may both stand there embarrassed. People convert to Christ with excitement then predictably grow stale and frustrated because they don’t know what living a Christian life entails.
Many of our churches have altogether missed the point. Our purpose seems to feverishly get people saved, an important thing, but we have often not produced a clear picture of discipleship, which encapsulates everything we do, from conversion to converting.
I believe the spiritual habits rest at the very center of a vibrant relationship with Christ and a wholesome church. Furthermore, I think it is imperative that we do more looking back to our moorings and earliest practices to not only avoid sin, but also to ward off the spiritual frothiness of this generation and the proliferation of Christian pop culture that characterizes very many churches.
Means to an End
Jesus was a Jew and practiced the rituals and habits of Judaism. His denunciation of the Pharisees and religious leaders was not an attack on religion, but their legalism.
Christ is indeed the heart of Christianity, but the way we acquaint him is through conscientious religious practice. It is the corridor leading to where he reposes. Remember, the presence of God was at the heart of the Temple, but there was a (God-ordained) manner in approaching it.
God’s message to us has always been “Be ye holy, as I am holy,” but to answer the question of how we become holy, Jesus says things like, “When you pray…when you fast…”
“Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship.” I think it’s both.
“Jews in Exile” by Eduard Bendemann Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne CC BY-NC, Magdeburg, Flickr
Encouraging articles about persevering through tough times are plentiful; there is nothing wrong with them. But I want to share with you an inspiring coming-out scenario lifted directly from scripture. Since we all are in process and will encounter tough times, it would do us well to keep this text handy. It offers a glimpse of God’s rescue.
Psalm 126
Psalm 126 is one of 15 psalms (120-134) called “Songs of Degrees” or “Songs of Ascent.” Four of them are attributed to David (122, 124, 131, 133), one to Solomon (127), and the remainder have unknown authors.
The origin of the name—Degrees, Ascent—is uncertain. It is often thought that they were purposed for pilgrimages to Jerusalem or sung by the Hebrews upon their return from captivity. There is also the notion that there may be a thought progression in them. The truth, however, is that the categorization is not understood. The circumstances of their composition or the occasion for which they were used granted them a certain unity and distinction by the editor of Psalms. Still, the title would have been fully understood by Hebrew readers.
Psalm 126 is one of only two (the other: Ch. 122) that could possibly have anything to do with a Babylonian return; and it appears that the return of exiles may very well be the subject here. The psalm is a first-person testimony of exiles recalling their release from captivity.
VERSE 1(ESV)
“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion…”
Have you ever been in hardship so severe that it seemed that you would never get out of it? Pain and suffering has the tendency to make us feel isolated and locked in circumstance. Sometimes we forget faith and cast off hope (Isa. 49:15). But this verse reveals a God who always knows where we are and how to free us.
Some Bible versions are worded more aligned to the New King James (NKJV)—“When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion…”—the word “captivity” meaning “return,” referring to the captives themselves. The notion is the Lord’s deliverance and by not only bringing us out of misery, but also freeing everything connected to us. It is a recovery or recompense in ways we may have resolved would never happen.
You see, God has the power to free us, our goods, and our ability to prosper. He doesn’t just release the captives; he establishes them and gives them livelihood. “He will beautify the humble with salvation” (Ps. 149:4). The word “fortunes” used by some versions is good.
“…we were like those who dream.”
Our burdens were so monumental that, once delivered, we could hardly believe it. It was surreal. Too often we’ve watched news stories of a man wrongly imprisoned for 10, 15, 25 years, only to be set free immediately after conclusive evidence proved his innocence; certainly it takes time for him to understand his new reality.
It is the great disparity between our dire situation and unexpected relief that shocks the senses and may even cause us to fear that our new state isn’t lasting. For instance, people who have starved have to learn not to hide food when they finally have enough to eat. They fear that satisfaction won’t last and that they’ll starve again.
VERSE 2
“Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy…”
These people were exiles—prisoners—for years. Now they were free, and it came without expectation and with ecstatic joy. What we’re witnessing in these two verses is a reversal of what we understand of the Kubler-Ross model, or five stages of grief. The first two stages are denial and anger. Denial encompasses shock at a great sadness, just as shock and denial, seen here, was the initial response of the exiles’ great joy. Now, the shock wearing off, they cannot contain their giddiness.
They’re so full with excitement that all they can do is laugh with incredulity. I imagine it to be like a person on the verge of bankruptcy suddenly inheriting millions of dollars. The NKJV expresses the latter clause as “our tongue with singing.” Music often expresses what mere sentences cannot.
“…then they said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’”
The “they” here are non-Israelites, or heathen (KJV), those that don’t know the Lord—they testify to his mighty deeds! It reminds me of Nebuchadnezzar, after seeing the fourth man in the fire, standing back in amazement and acknowledging the reality of the Hebrew God.
People around us often know details about our lives. It is not possible to hide everything about ourselves (and who really cares to expend a great deal of energy trying?) And non-Christian people on our jobs, in our social organizations, our peers and neighbors will see us, the Christians, go through trial. Some will mock for the seeming lack of regard our so-called God shows toward us. But we should be encouraged. Not only is pain working a reward within us and for us, it is also working toward a testimony of the greatness of God.
In the end God will prove himself and no one will be able to deny that it is his doing. Some struggles are so monumental that only God can change them, but we must be convinced—like the Hebrew boys—that God is able even if he doesn’t answer. He just might shock us all with his goodness!
And isn’t that the point? The glory of God is a testimony of his affection, that he is for us and his nature is goodness itself. He is eager to show us kindness.
VERSE 3
“The Lord has done great things for us!”
This is the reply of the Israelites—“Absolutely!” “Indeed!” And there’s also an element of “You cannot possibly understand.” We see people, perhaps smiling on the outside or getting on with their lives, but never have a clue about the depth of pain, lack, or suffering they’re dealing with. If they told us stories about the ins-and-outs of their daily lives…the number of jobs and the type of schedule they manage just to put food on their tables or the domino effect of trouble that fell upon them—we might be stunned.
So when God delivers people like this, we can rejoice with them; yet there is an intimacy about the whole thing that only they can share with their Deliverer. Only he knows how their hearts hurt, how situations tried their souls, the things they lost, and the lessons they learned.
“…we are glad.”
Our souls are satisfied. Others can be happy for us, but only we can be satisfied. If the Lord permits us to go through pain, he knew what the pain would accomplish. But when he brings us out, the true reward is not the mere reversal of fortune; instead it is the satisfaction of seeing the full scope of his purpose. It takes a really “seasoned saint” to acknowledge on the coming-out end, “It was good that I went through my affliction” (Isa. 53:10-12). The experience may have been hell itself, but the work of God within us and through us makes it all worth it.
VERSE 4
“Restore our fortunes, O Lord…”
This verse implies that the restoration wasn’t complete and was most likely in progress. So the psalmist implores the Lord that full deliverance would be manifested. It very well could have been a prayer that all of his Israelite compatriots be freed from exile since we know that the exiles returned in stages over several years.
This is a good place for us to stop and ask the Lord to finish his work within us, using that great Pauline verse, Philippians 1:6: “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Lord, we thank you that our lives are hidden in you. You have ordered our every step along this path of life. Where we must face trial, teach us patience and help us to trust your providence. You will deliver us; you will satisfy us. You will make your name great to all who see. Complete your work in us. Cause us to one day acknowledge that when you tested the good in us, it was a good thing indeed. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
“…like streams in the Negeb!”
Restore our fortunes like the dry desert streams that are restored and swollen by the autumn and winter rains.
VERSE 5
“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!”
Isn’t this wonderfully poetic? Agriculture is obviously a readily used illustration tool and a worthy one. But what I like about this verse is the oblivious thing happening with the subject. No one views suffering as valuable; pain is visceral—you feel it, spurn it, run away from it. God allows the yoke to come upon us and we ask why. It all seems so needless.
The psalmist images tears as seed. All of our misery is borne in our tears, yet our tears, in God’s eyes, are rudiments of renewal and reward. Suffering people might never be convinced that their grief is a spiritual act of sowing, but the scriptures assure us of this concept in many places.
God’s promise comes through resoundingly in this verse: “I will repay your trouble.” And to anyone experiencing hardship, you should know that God has not forgotten your pain. He has seen every tear you’ve cried. You’re gonna get through this. The harvest sprouting for you is going to make you shout with joy.
VERSE 6
“He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing…”
The concept continues. Picture that person ambling along dejected and softly weeping.
“…shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.”
I like the assurance of the NKJV here: “shall doubtless come again…” The allusion to the sower remains, but the reward is imaged here: a sheaf. A sheaf is a bundle of grain produced from a harvest.
Need I say more? The one who trod the earth lamenting his or her lack and loss and without a clue that their own tears were working toward the answer of their prayers will “doubtless come again” leaping and laughing and falling over in disbelief that the Lord has favored them with more than they could have ever imagined.
As with any drama interest in the story depends on the strength of the conflict. Humanly speaking, we’re all pitiful creatures who for some reason just cannot get along. Our relations have the tendency of the clouds: to open and display the wonders of life as well as to darken and wreak havoc. I dare to believe that life isn’t so dangerous except for the human encounters we risk.
I consider Jesus and his friend Judas one of the most intriguing twosomes in history. Have you ever stopped to think of them? Jesus was undoubtedly the man on the scene, and it was all the rage to be acquainted with him. But when he selected twelve ordinary streeters to be his go-to men, could he with his spiritual powers not have known that one of them—Judas specifically—would turn on him? Surely he did, but he and Judas still shared a very close and spiritually powerful relationship. Judas was trusted enough to be his bagman.
Some weeks after I began work abroad, one of my wing mates from college arrived. I was thrilled that he and I were going to be working together. But not long after his arrival I noticed that he began distancing himself from me. When I approached him about it, I learned the reason was over something quite silly, which only revealed to me deeper issues about him. The rift between him and me only widened. He would avoid me, backstab, and throw verbal punches when he could. Still, I considered him my friend and even availed myself to be his listening ear when he wrestled with character issues.
We all have encountered people who turn traitorous. It’s not easy to embrace people when they go to lengths to scorn you. It taxes one’s reserves to walk a moral high ground and requires maturity and much temperance, for even the most considerate and longsuffering person reaches a limit with difficult individuals. Simply put, people can work your nerves and get you downright mad. I admit that I had moments with my colleague when I felt my blood pressure rise, and he knew it, too. I’m sure Jesus had moments with Judas after he defected—and maybe even with some of the good disciples—when he bared his teeth and clenched his fists.
A rule I’ve made for myself, however, is that no matter how below par one should stoop, I must not allow his or her weakness to dictate my response. In middle school, when heated words got exchanged, there was always a meathead in the background that piped up with, “Those sound like fighting words to me!”—then the fists started flying. It’s all a lesson in maintaining control of the situation and yourself, and this doesn’t compromise one’s integrity either. At times the moral high ground might mean confrontation and at other times it could mean heaping coals of fire with kindness. Whatever it is, it is not emotional, malicious, or irrational. The point: Don’t listen to the meathead!
The notion of the good guy is that he always comes in last place because good plays fair. Based on the kind of belief system one follows, I suppose this could appear to be true. Christ’s own teachings instruct us to pray for enemies, to turn the cheek, and to bless those who curse us. If television and movies are a notion of cultural opinion, good is weak, evil always resurrects with perfect timing, and the hero must plow through hell itself to see any measure of accomplishment. But maybe all this bad talk is mere hyperbole. It would do us well to remember that the satisfaction of a good story is the plot itself, particularly, the resolution and not the conflict.
Why should wickedness and gore and vulgarity and hatred appear lasting? Maybe it says more about the core of the human heart and its incurable, even insatiable, need for misery. I believe good overcomes evil and not only eventually. When has light infinitesimal ever been extinguished by darkness incomparable? Each good deed and good action outdoes any bad deed and action every time it is performed. It may not be quickly saluted or appreciated, but it is hard to resist because true good is also redemptive.
Remember Javert—Javert of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables? He was the treacherous one of the story, consumed with allegiance to his own moral exactitude that only we could see had become turpitude. But when Jean Valjean, after years of mistreatment from Javert, refused not to show him mercy, what happened? So, in Paul’s words, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).
When you’re lucky enough to get downtime in your day, sometimes your body betrays you for sleep. And not unlike the ebb and flow of water, body and brain may play a game of chase, one on the run and the other at the gate. Your head nods, your arms slip, your eyes close—until you catch yourself…and jerk, and nod, and jerk and nod, and chuckle, hoping no one was watching.
What we never consider is how our muscles support our bodies until the paralysis that comes with sleep overtakes the impulse to stay upright. I imagine it as a stately tree bending in the wind without apparent support. We are hardly ever aware that we actively hold ourselves
So it is with prayer. We may not know how it works; we just know it does, especially when some force—or maybe our own vices—tries to overcome it. By prayer we stand and have stood for so long. Prayer holds the world and our lives in posture: prayers for us and by us and those we pray involuntarily and those reaching heaven from some distant place on earth, unknown. Prayer is always near, powerful as muscles and as undetectable. Glory to God, for he hears.
What does God think about our work? The apostle Paul offers a clue in Ephesians 6:5-9.
First, he admonishes us to obey our supervisors respectfully, underscoring God’s order of authority. We know that not all leaders are good ones. Paul understood this and it is evident in his writing. But his point is that God is honored by our obedience to and respect for the position. When we serve our managers, we please God our ultimate authority. It is not far-fetched to believe that our service to God in this manner is one way he makes an end of bad authority.
Second, Paul advises us to be sincere in our work. He also adds that we should work hard even when we’re not being watched, which can be hard when the work is monotonous or disliked. Working as unto God is no protection from boring, unnerving work. Work can also be personally burdensome when there are other important things needing to be handled. But should we shirk our responsibilities when we get tired or upset? Is it fine to leave our work behind for others to do? Are we to work less because others are loafing? This is when sincerity matters.
Third, Paul tells us to work enthusiastically. There is no better work accomplished than that done joyfully, creatively, and with excellence. Even if the job is doing one thing a thousand times a day, it is the attitude that counts. We should strive for the best thousand of any other worker! We can work on behalf of all the people who will buy the product. We can work with gratefulness that we have a job and money to provide for ourselves and our families. We can work because we truly love it, the workplace and our coworkers. Work this way, Paul says, because the true reward for good work ultimately comes from God and is in God.
(Stop and think: how did Jesus do his work? What did he like and hate about it? Was he ever subject to a bad boss? Was he satisfied with his pay?)
This is how we do our work “as to the Lord” (Col. 3:23, KJV). Paul has presented us with a clear picture of the spiritual life reminding us that faith pervades every area of daily living, even our rote responsibilities. Acting as our Lord did, we become agents of redemption and transform the secular and mundane into sacrament, and all becomes an offering to God.
In Christ’s model prayer (Matt. 6:9-13) he implores us to ask God for our provisions—“Give us today our daily bread” (v. 11). It is a simple statement that reveals to us God’s concern for our needs. It is also a profound concept that unveils what our expectations should be toward the supply. It is important to express early that Christ was not merely suggesting food in the term bread. Instead, bread is a metaphor for all the things that sustain our lives. Yet we are not told to only ask for bread but “daily” bread; the modifier causes the prescriptive to become a rich description of a life of simplicity.
To plainly see what Christ means by the phrase, we can easily reflect on a significant event in the history of the Hebrew people that encases the full meaning of Jesus’s words. When the Israelites had recently left Egypt, they landed in crisis when their food resources diminished (Ex. 16). The people complained bitterly until God spoke to Moses telling him, in no uncertain terms, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you” (v. 4).
God sends a meal, or grain-like, substance that appears every morning over the ground after the dew had dried. The Israelites called it manna and with it sustained themselves nutritionally, in addition to other acquired food. But this provision came with a stipulation that each family only harvest a day’s-worth per person; when some did try to store more than what God had indicated, the substance bred worms and stank. The implication of the manna and Jesus’s admonition are the same: trust God to provide your need for the moment and anything more will be supplied in its time. Another literal Bible version (YLT) expresses the verse this way: “Our appointed bread give us to-day.”
Further in the same discourse, Jesus builds on this thought: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (6:34). The point is that each day brings its own problems and worries—and its own solutions and answers because God provides them as they occur. Now why disrupt today’s peace with tomorrow’s cares? We only borrow trouble when we do.
Going to Market
The daily bread concept figures illustratively in my past experience. I lived in Japan for a year teaching ESL. During that time I discerned how important the home is to the women, who are proud homemakers. (When asked what she desired to be when she grew up, one of my teenagers replied, “A housewife.”) Each day they rise early and set the house in motion; after sending children and husbands off, they begin their daily chores. Many women don aprons, an obvious sign that they are doing their thing. I would commonly see women in grocery stores still wearing them.
Japanese women go to the market or grocery store daily for that day’s meal, as is common in many cultures. I understood the custom more the longer I was there. The Japanese are a people closely connected to the land, another distinctive in some cultures. On the large scale, they cherish every inch of their rocky string of islands and its natural wonder. Still, it is not uncommon to discover gardens in the city, even in front yards.
So it is no wonder that the Japanese view their food and cuisine with uncommon esteem. But who wouldn’t when it is local or derived from one’s own garden, fresh, healthful, and cooked with lots of labor and love? This is what going to market daily means and what it meant to the women I watched—not the storage of highly processed, non-nutritious foodstuffs, the offspring of refrigeration and packaging.
It is the way our own parents and grandparents understood “bread”—such a worthy symbol—in a time when supply, in general, wasn’t as plentiful as it is today. Moreover, they lived with more restraint than many in society now who can, without thought, quickly toss away and buy new.
The Discipline of Simplicity
Daily bread teaches us the spiritual discipline of simplicity. Simplicity is the virtue of being content and free from the need of acquisition. Simplicity rejects overspending and makes one use an item until buying new is necessary. It is the use of a simple word and not a pricey one. It is the ability to keep oneself entertained without the latest trend. Ultimately, it is being grateful for all that you possess with faith to believe that the God who leads you will provide for you and escort you through every situation you face. The ability to trust God daily, like going to market…trusting that the supply we need will be there—isn’t this a healthier and more reliable faith than storing cares?
Perhaps if we followed Christ’s advice and let the future care for itself, we would better notice the hand of God dramatically working for us, as though we saw the fish and loaves multiplying before our eyes because that is what it would be. We would be certain of God’s reality, his miracles and great love. We would also appreciate how he uses tough times to work kinks out of our own hearts.
Daily bread doesn’t negate our planning for the future and situations we can see coming. Yet it does negate our worrying about things we must trust God to solve. The prayer for daily bread is a faith-builder in a providential God. Ask God daily for your bread and watch how he answers.
A 'Mike' for Christ 