David Bahn – Reflections

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread,

Jesus commands us not to be like the Gentiles which is quite difficult for us who are Gentiles! A Gentile is literally a non-Jew, and that would describe most of us western Christians today. More likely in Jesus’ view, however, a Gentile was simply a non-believer. So Jesus’ warning to be unlike the Gentiles was against unbelief. But here’s the rub: most of us think of belief as holding a set of convictions. Even though we consider belief to be centered properly in the heart rather than in the head, the understanding we bring to belief has much to do with the convictions we hold in our hearts.

In Jesus’ view, however, belief is as much about what we do as it is about what we believe. Don’t get me wrong here! Jesus railed at the Pharisees who did things from a false heart. But the veneer of their actions was thin and failed to hide an unbelieving heart.

I think it is likely that Jesus would turn the tables on us today regarding our lack of action – our failure to act outwardly what we claim to believe inwardly. That said, when Jesus teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” he is speaking to both conviction and action. And in this case he would speak clearly to our need to adjust our “wanters”. By that I mean the internal part of us that wants things – most of us wanting things far beyond daily bread.

There is a fine line here. Jesus doesn’t condemn rich people – thank God! But he does warn that it is difficult for a rich man to get into heaven; more difficult than getting a camel through the eye of a needle. Jesus also teaches here that we should pray for daily bread. And it seems to me that if this prayer is embraced fully it would mean that we take care to keep our wanters carefully calibrated so that they never dial up so high that we want something that gets in the way of the more important things in life. Daily bread is essential for life. Caviar is not.  Food and shelter is essential for life. Feast that knows no fast and castles and mansions are not.

How do you make the choice between needs and wants? Does your wanter need an adjustment? Is it set so high that the words of this prayer no longer shape your heart? Thank God for daily bread – and all those things even beyond our needs that his grace allows us to enjoy!