Posts by Yong Joo Park:
Give Us Today Our Daily Bread (Matthew 6:11)
Matthew 6:11 Give us today our daily bread.
This is part of “the LORD’s Prayer” (Matthew 6:9 – 15), which Jesus taught us to pray.
Here, “bread” represents things necessary for the sustenance of life like food, clothing, health, civil peace and etc (Ursinus, Z., & Williard, G. W. (1888)).
We have to pray for “bread” not only to obtain them but also to be able to enjoy them.
It is God who enables us to enjoy them (Ecclesiastes 5:19). If God does not enable us to enjoy, we can’t enjoy what we own (Ecclesiastes 6:2). Some “bread” might be obtained apparently by our own labour, but we have to pray for it, and recognize God’s provision and His enablement for our enjoyment.
“daily bread” is bread as much as we need for each day to serve God and our neighbour. Note that Jesus said not “weekly” or “yearly”, but “daily”, restraining our raging and boundless desires (Ursinus, Z., & Williard, G. W. (1888)).
Now let us think about “today” in the prayer. This requires “trust” that God will give us “today”. “daily” and “today” two words in one sentence emphasize to live for today. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33-34 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
I realize God faithfully gave me daily bread – I got place to live and clothes. Just then, I had good dinner. I got my computer and desk and etc. All these facts touched my heart and I couldn’t help crying due to His grace and provision.
I think “our” in “our daily bread” means I should be in community and I should NOT leave any brother or sister to live in extreme poverty.
I realize that boundless desires make me never satisfied with the amount of work I do for a day. But when I focus on today and recognize God in my daily life, I am relieved from heavy burden.
Live THE MOST EXCITING LIFE IN JESUS, seeking His kingdom and His righteousness as the top priority instead of the stressful life worrying about tomorrow or future, totally leaving His mission aside.
The above choice is a matter of trust in God and His promise, shown in Matthew 6:33.
Now is the time to put down our covetousness and distrust, and obey God.
Bibliography
Ursinus, Z., & Williard, G. W. (1888). The Commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus on the Heidelberg Catechism. Cincinnati, OH: Elm Street Printing Company.
Knowing God’s Plan of Judgement and Praying for other(s)
Genesis 18:16 – 33 In Genesis 18:2, three men visited Abraham. In v16, they were leaving and Abraham walked along with them for farewell. Two of them were angels of God and one of them was the LORD. The LORD said he would not hide from Abraham what he was about to do (17). This […]
Replacing the Law of Retaliation with the Law of Christ in personal life
Matthew 5:39 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. Most people are right-handed. How can a right-handed person slap the right cheek of another person? It is possible by slapping with the back of the right hand. […]
The Beautitudes
Matthew 5:4 Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7 are called “The Sermon on the Mount”. Matthew 5:1-11 is in the opening part of it, called “The Beatitudes”. Beatitude comes from the Latin “beatitude” meaning “blessedness”. The beatitudes are 8 blessings as written in Matthew 5:1-11. Here, let us discuss the 2nd blessing today. See v4. […]
Highest priority in the life
Jesus who appears in John 4 was weary (John 4:6), thirsty (John 4:7) and hungry (John 4:8). He became like us to become a merciful and faithful high priest (Hebrews 2:16-18) and to sympathize our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15-16). In Matthew 4, Jesus was hungry after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights (Matthew 4:2). And […]
The Parable of the Shrewd Manager
Luke 16:1 – 9 The topic of today’s message is The Parable of the Shrewd Manager. “shrewd” means having or showing sharp powers of judgement; having an ability to assess situations or people accurately. What this parable teaches us is written in Luke 16:8 – 9. That is, it teaches us to be ‘shrewd’. ‘Be […]
Humility before God and Confidence on His Grace
Matthew 15:21-28
God is Light
“In him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, […]
Choose your Eternal Destiny
Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment. (Hebrews 9:27) We all know every one of us will die once sometimes. What happens after the death? Each individual will face judgement of God. What will be the result of the judgement? See Matthew 25:46. “Then they will go away to […]
About two trees in the middle of garden of Eden
In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:9b) The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was forbidden tree which would bring death if eaten (Genesis 2:17). Before temptation & sin, This tree gave them following knowledge: It is […]
