It was Jesus who taught us to call His Father “our Father.” It was Jesus who taught us to pray this prayer every morning: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:9). It’s our daily “breakfast.” It’s a prayer that we are invited to pray and which we should pray. We should be hungry for it every day.
We are like pets at feeding time lined up for what we hunger for. Yes, we are dependent on hand-outs from heaven. If we have learned a little so far in our lifetime, we know that the words of Jesus are true, “Without Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The weaker you are of yourself, the stronger you are “in Christ.”
It’s comforting and assuring to realize that even Jesus Himself had to confess that without the Father’s constant moment by moment sustenance, He too was helpless: “I can of Myself do nothing” (John 5:30). The word “do” does not mean only performing works, physical doings; it includes perception, judgment, wisdom: “As I hear, I judge” (John 5:30). It’s a marvelous spectacle: the divine Son of God, the Commander of the heavenly hosts, has taken upon Himself our nature and has become one of us, helpless of Himself. He frankly told His enemies, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do” (vs. 19). Whatever evil you want to do to Me, it’s to the Father that you are doing it.
Christ’s helplessness was the most vividly illustrated when He was in the hands of the scribes and Pharisees and Roman soldiers when they arrested Him. He let them treat Him roughly. They beat Him, mocked Him, took His clothes off, humiliated Him, drove spikes in His wristbones and anklebones, and then killed Him in the most humiliating execution the wicked mind of man could invent. He could not deliver Himself because He would not; He had to prove to the world and to the universe that He “could do nothing.”
You can’t get your own “breakfast” in the Father’s “house” where you are a guest; you have to tell your “Host” that you’re hungry and thirsty for righteousness (Matt. 5:6).
But suppose you’re not; what you’re hungry for is the world; the Father’s “daily bread” He wants to give you is unappetizing. You’re at square one; if you’re not hungry and thirsty for His word, you’re virtually a pagan still at heart. But don’t give up; tell Him in honest straightforward prayer the truth; the Savior has promised that “the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). Oh, deeply pagan soul, come.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.
