My wife and I lived in Chile when we first got married. Next to the Chilean people, my favorite thing about Chile is the bread. A close third is the wine. But the bread – wow.
Bread is central to many cultures in our world. It is certainly key in Chilean culture – particularly two types – the marraqueta and the hallulla (pictured below.) But there’s something very different about most cultures compared to American culture regarding bread: you get it fresh every day.
We Americans tend to buy a long, boring loaf of white or wheat that will last a week or so and generally not be very good, but still kind of soft, by the end. This really is not the way God intended bread to be eaten, I am certain.
No, in Chile we would go to the corner store every single day to buy fresh marraquetas and hallullas. I learned when the morning and afternoon deliveries came to our particular corner store and would time my visit accordingly – often getting it warm. The bread was usually not very good by the next day because, well, it wasn’t intended to be eaten that way – and wasn’t full of preservatives.
This gets me thinking about Jesus when he taught us to pray, “give us this day our daily bread.” Why daily? He doesn’t say this explicitly but we can be confident he knew the story of the manna in the wilderness pretty well. During that time of wandering, God gave his people a sort of “bread” from the skies. But it was only intended to be enough for each day and would rot if you tried to keep it longer. He seemed to want to cultivate a daily, trusting reliance upon him.
So it is with our souls. The revelations, encouragements, truths and corrections of today are meant for today. We are created and designed to eat good bread – and to get it fresh every day. God has new stuff for us every – single – day. Stuff that is just for that day. If you are unsatisfied or feeling distant in your relationship with God, let me challenge you with a truth I have had to wrestle: it’s directly correlated to whether or not we are feeding on fresh, daily bread. I don’t mean that his love for us is dependent on it. But I do mean that we have a role to play and it takes some time, discipline and commitment. Yet it is an awesome role: just show up and feast!
This week, I dare you to make ample time to be with God daily – in prayer, scripture, walks, song, gardening, encouragement, service – but intentionally seeking each day’s bread. It’s not just a few minutes in the morning. It’s not just checking a box. It’s not yesterday’s stale crumbs. Not tomorrow’s unbaked dough. It’s feasting, slowly, on today’s delicious, warm, crusty, amazing bread. It doesn’t just sustain us, it delights us. And it is more than enough.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Joel