Series 1 - Lesson 1 - Annotation 13
What is "our daily bread" (Matt. 6:11)?
13. The lesson material brings out very clearly that according to our teaching "bread" is representative of all the divine ideas that "feed" the soul. These ideas inhere in divine substance and the following from The Revealing Word, page 29, on "bread", covers this point very well:
"Bread -- Representative of universal substance. ... Our daily bread is the sustenance for spirit, mind, and body. Some of this daily bread is appropriated in the form of food. There is substance in words of Truth, and this substance is appropriated by prayer and meditation on Truth."
Most people feel it is vital to feed the body daily with physical food, and certain periods are set aside for mealtimes. When one becomes aware of the needs of the soul, he realizes that the soul (i.e., the mind) has need of its "daily bread" in the form of divine ideas, otherwise the soul is starved for the only sustenance upon which it can really "feed."
Bread has been referred to as the "staff of life." A staff is a stick, carried in the hand, upon which one may lean for support. In Truth study, substance ("bread") is the support that God has provided for all states of man's being. Life could not be made manifest unless it were "embodied," hence the necessity of substance through which to give expression and manifestation to life, to give it "body."
We are threefold beings — spirit, soul, body — and each phase of our being has need of its special food; needs to be nourished, sustained, and satisfied in order that we may be channels for the expression and manifestation of the God nature.
Let us consider other words of Scripture related to food:
"It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4)
"He ... fed you with manna, which you did not know ... that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone" (Deut. 8:3).
"Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work" (John 4:34).
"Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life" (John 6:27).
"I am the bread of life ... This is the bread which comes down from heaven" (John 6:48, 50).
From these sayings it is clear that our concern should be to feed, through prayer, upon the Word of God — the I AM — the living substance that is within every human being, providing him with the necessary sustenance for both the inner and outer life.
To sum up the meaning of "our daily bread," we say that it is the spiritual ideas, inspirations through which we enlarge our consciousness of God and His creatures. It is through "our daily bread" that we have the courage and the strength to meet our experiences at opportunities to do God's will and thus to make Him manifest in the world of visibility.
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Preceding Entry: What is "God's will" for man?
Following Entry: Explain why it is necessary to pray believing that we have received.
