Give Us This Day

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves; We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not unto despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.   2 Corinthians 4:7-10 (ASV)

 We wrestle with our two natures.  We have a here-and-now-present nature that we could label our physical self (our earthen vessel.)  Second, we have a spiritual nature that allows us to "time travel;" that is, to look ahead to the future and believe that we can "see" what is going to happen.  Our spirit nature is the source of worry; it is the source of our thinking we have more power to dictate the future than we actually have.  Only God can be the Director of the future, but we often wrap ourselves in a battle against a future we dread, or chase after a future we crave.  

Sarah Young has written Jesus Calling.  A sentence in her devotion for today spoke to this ever-present way where we launch ourselves into the future: "How ridiculous to grasp for future gifts when today's is set before you!"  Give us this day (pause), (and) our daily bread could be another way to put the line from the Lord's Prayer.  Stay in today.  Daily Jesus Christ is born into our hearts, dies for us, rises again, and sends the Holy Spirit.  To the degree we worry only about today and stay present in just today we live out the life of our Savior's grace poured out for each of us.  Don't borrow worries from tomorrow where there is plenty of pressure, despair, and misery living in our imagination.  Today has all the resources through Christ we need for this moment's challenges.

Prayer:
God in heaven, hallowed by your name.  Give us this day.  Give us today's bread.  Let your will be ours on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen.