Bread from Heaven
As Jesus taught us to pray He instructed us in this way, “Give us this day our daily bread…” We often think of this “daily bread” in terms of provision in a natural sense. But there is so much more to our daily bread, in fact, if we put God’s kingdom first we do not need to stress about daily provision at all (Matt 6:31-33). Jesus tells us in John 6 to not work for the bread that perishes, but rather seek the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you (v 27). Jesus is the bread of God who comes down from heaven and gives lif to the world (v. 33). In case we missed it, He goes on, “I am the bread of life,” (v. 35).
We desperately need our daily bread from heaven, our portion of Jesus, but how do we access this bread? Jesus said back in chapter 4 of John’s gospel, “I have food that you know not about,” (v. 32). And He ocntiniues, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work,” v. 34). Protestant theology has so stressed the issue of not working for salvation that doing the will of God has nearly been lost from our vocabulary and our understanding of the Christian life. Obeying our Lord has nothing to do with “works righteousness.” Indeed, this is bread we do not know about.
Doing as God commands, “walking according to the Spirit” as Paul terms it in Romans 8:4, is the normal Christian life, and it is how we also access the heavenly bread. Jesus ate bread we do not know about because as God’s Son He understood the reality of the realm of the spirit. He received nourishment in spirit, soul, and body through His obedience to the Father. He has given us access to this bread as well, and so we pray, “Give us this bread!” As we walk in the Spirit and obey God’s voice through the impartation of His grace, we are not simply “doing something for God,” we are receiving nourishment into our spirit and strengthening our soul. In our world today, the world does not need to see undernourished, emaciated Christians who are existing on a subsistence diet. We need, the world needs, God needs, strong and well nourished followers of Christ who are living according to the Spirit and receiving the Bread from Heaven every day.
