Daily Bread

Kenyan woman and her "daily bread."

I recently did a children's message at church that went along with this line from the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." It's really a profound thought to ponder...do we trust God for our daily bread. Or maybe a better question is, do we HAVE to trust God for our daily bread? I shared some photos from this website with the kids during the message. It's a great (and slightly disturbing) glimpse into what constitutes "daily bread" around the world. We live in such luxury and abundance compared to most of the rest of the world, don't we?

James said, in relation to faith being dead if there isn't action to accompany it, "Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?" (James 2:15-16) Those last few words get me every time..."what good is it?" We aren't blessed just to be blessed and store up more and more stuff for ourselves. I believe we are blessed to continue blessing others...to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

So how are you teaching this concept to your children? How are you teaching them that the world does not revolve around them? How are you expanding their worldview to realize that there are people who are hungry and hurting in the world and part of our job is to love them?

You know what I have discovered in the years I have worked with children? They are more than willing to share, to pray, and to reach out! They just need to be given tha
t opportunity.