Matthew 6:11

ONLY BREAD

‘Give us this day our daily bread.’

Matthew 6:11

How small a part of this model prayer is devoted to our bodily necessities! One single petition is all, and this of the simplest kind. Yet it is a larger one than it looks. The word ‘bread’ must stand for the necessaries of existence.

I. A rebuke of extravagance.—This prayer rebukes extravagance and intemperance and enfeebling luxury. It is quite possible for us to create wants which are no part of our Divine endowment. The word ‘bread’ may show that only the simple, healthy satisfaction of an incorrupted nature is here referred to. We may indulge and spoil ourselves until we want a thousand things which are altogether unnecessary and unnatural. This prayer is as far removed from wasteful indulgence as it is from offensive self-neglect. It recognises our bodily existence as worthy of prayer; it does not recognise the deadly parasites which prey upon it.

II. A prayer for a manly will.—There are many who eat bread which is not their own. Whosoever is not working, says Carlyle, is begging or stealing. What is the cause of the greater part of our painful poverty? Of course there are exceptional cases. But as a rule men bring poverty on themselves, or it is their own fault that they do not rise out of it. They break the law of work, and because they will not work neither do they eat. There is what Burke calls ‘a. guilty poverty.’ We must change men’s characters and convert them from idleness and improvidence and intemperance, and the pauperism will disappear. Prayer is that way by which character is changed. Once a whole nation, in deep reverence before God, and in submission to His manifested will, prays this prayer, ‘Give us this day our daily bread,’ then the workhouse may be abolished.

III. A prayer for the spirit by which we may gain bread.—It is a prayer that we may be saved from the vice of indolence, improvidence, extravagance, and intemperance. It is a prayer that our characters may be cleansed from a degrading selfishness, and started and strengthened in the path of manly regard and duty. It is a prayer for an honourable spirit of independence which disdains to be a beggar, a hanger-on upon others, the recipient of doles spent in fashionable or squalid self-indulgence, to be a shameless borrower who never pays, and a debtor who preys upon the unwary.

IV. A prayer which will evoke the spirit of brotherly love.—He who says, ‘Give us’—not me merely, not a selfish prayer—he who says, ‘Give us our daily bread,’ and says it to God for God to hear him, and to look into his heart to see that he is sincere, will not pass by his needy brother. The charity which prays but does not give is shallow charity.

—Dean W. Page Roberts.

Illustration

‘Certain French missionaries travelled with a Buddhist who professed to be a Christian. When they had safely crossed over a difficult mountain top, the Buddhist proposed that they should give something as a thanksgiving for their deliverance from peril. He suggested that they might provide horses for the service of future worn-out travellers. The priests were astonished at the proposal, for they had no horses to give nor money with which to buy any. Then the Buddhist, being a religious man, explained that it was not necessary to give real horses; if they made imitations of horses of bits of paper and threw them over the precipice and let the wind carry them away, and then said one or two prayers, the bits of paper would be changed into real horses by Divine power. And when we pray for ourselves and for others, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and are stingy and wasteful and hard-hearted, giving nothing, or giving but the shabbiest offering, our charity is but paper charity; not bank paper but waste paper.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

AS WELL FOR THE BODY AS THE SOUL

If we were to sum up in short petition all our ordinary wants we should express them very differently. We are toiling for tomorrow, for next year, for our old age, and our children when we are gone. But text teaches us a better and nobler lesson—one of simple dependence upon God.

I. Daily bread for the body.—In this sense the prayer is one for our physical well-being in general—food, raiment, shelter. We leave ourselves in His hands. See, too, it is the great family who are praying, ‘Give us.’ Are there any near you known to be destitute? Such want this prayer pledges us to relieve.

II. Daily bread for spiritual life.—The text has a higher import. Spiritual life needs its daily bread. What is the spiritual food on which the soul must feed? The Lord answers: ‘I am the Bread of Life.’ Not faith, nor love, nor holiness, nor anything short of Christ Himself can feed the spiritual being of man. Do we need wisdom, holiness, a perfect pattern, a dear friend? All these we have in Him. We pray that we may live each day on Christ. We do not pray for long days to come, but for our daily bread, just so much food for our spirits as God may see fit to send us.

—Dean Alford.

(THIRD OUTLINE)

THE CHRISTIAN AND TEMPORAL GIFTS

Look at the believer’s way of seeking temporal things from God. See the piety of the prayer, and then the faith, and then the moderation.

I. The piety of the prayer.—It is a beautiful thing, in the sight of God and His holy angels, to see a godly man get up in the morning, and surrounded by his wife and children, put special emphasis upon the words of my text, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ He looks round and sees his family. He knows that the bread they eat depends more or less on his toil, and he puts an emphasis on the ‘us.’ He thanks God that He has made the ‘us’ so large that it includes all that he holds dear, his wife, his children; yes, possibly many more, and he prays, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ What does it matter if the next meal does depend upon his labour? Things may change, health may fail, trials may draw near, but it is the Lord Who changeth not; and that poor man goes forth from his knees to his work full of joy.

II. The faith of the prayer.—We have far more difficulty in trusting God with regard to temporal matters than with regard to spiritual matters. ‘Spiritual things,’ we say, ‘these are in God’s province; for temporal things I have to depend upon myself.’ Is it so? God withdraws His Hand. You lie, perhaps, upon the bed of sickness, you live by charity. Do you depend upon your own powers, upon your own ability? No, it is given you, given; and what a useful lesson it is! Every morning, yes, often during the day, you should pray, ‘Give us.’ Why? ‘Because I depend upon Thee, Great Lord, because the power of brain and body which Thou hast given me Thou canst take away. Therefore, give it me, keep it for me. Give me all that is included in the word, “bread.” ’

III. The moderation of the prayer.—We see that in time, manner, and degree. Enough for the day is the evil thereof. Do not imagine that I do not want you to make provision for tomorrow; I do. But I do not want you to make anxious provision. That is all the difference in the world. That is the difference between what is good and what is evil. God will provide. In the East this word ‘bread’ is made to stand for all the necessaries of life. God knows what is necessary. We leave it a blank in God’s Hand. We say, Give us this day all that we need for our bodily sustenance. Is that not enough?

The Rev. J. J. Jenkins.