“Give us this day our daily bread.”-Matthew 6:11
Gratitude is a wonderful antiseptic to the condition of lust and discontentment. It sterilizes any bitterness which would spring up. Gratitude, like thankfulness, suggests to us the things we have and who we have them from. Instead of focusing on what we don’t have, we can find great comfort in what we have. Amidst all the needs and wants that might arise, Christ simply says: “Give us this day our daily bread.”
The word “need” is thrown around very loosely in our day and age. In this modern world, the lines between need and want are often blurred. Food, shelter, clothing, health, clean water, these are needs. I don’t need a new iPhone or a new car, those are wants. The wants can encompass a multitude of things. If left unchecked, the wants of life will drive us into so many unseen snares. Every good trap is fitted with the right bait. The scripture says that when “lust has conceived it bringeth for sin, and sin when it is finished bringeth for death.” If we do not find an end to our wants, they will end us. Even if we could “gain the whole world” would it mean that we find peace? Hope? Eternal life? The primary things in life should get our primary focus, but the devil would distract us with what we want. Lord, give us this day our daily bread. The need for the day, what you would have us to have, and let us be content with that. Grateful for what is on our plate. Let us pair this with the exhortation of Christ: cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in choke the word and it becometh unfruitful. The deceitful riches cause us to obtain the things we lust for, which only increase our cares of this world. The things that we must care for and spend more and more time on. This chokes the word out of our life, and thereby the fruit that we could bring for the glory of Christ.
Gratitude reminds us that we don’t always need what we want. That we have, and not lack. It categorized within us the consistency of God and the provision he has given. It further reminds us that he is on the giving hand, and contentment is better for us than lust. Bitterness and envy are poisonous, lust and greed toxic. Even ambition and aspirations, oriented by anything other than the Holy Spirit can lead you astray. Settle in your heart this simple sentiment, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
