Bread, Fish, and Egg

Bread, Fish, and Egg

 

“So, if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

— Luke 11:13

 

We’ve all heard and read of Jesus teaching that a good father would give bread, not a stone, fish, not a snake, and an egg, not a scorpion. A good father will give good things to his child—life, food/longevity (descendants), and freedom/solace/joy. 

 

Jesus had this in mind as He taught His disciples about prayer. When the disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, He taught the Lord’s Prayer. He said,

 

“OUR FATHER” (God is the summa of goodness and love, the example of summa parenting. When we say this, we acknowledge our recognition of Him as Creator of all, our Abba of our heart, soul, mind, and body.)

 

“IN HEAVEN” (The supreme God, Creator of heaven and earth reigns eternally on His throne. He is not limited to earth but rules over all that is from His throne in His highest heaven.)

 

“HOLY IS YOUR NAME” (YHWH’s name is so magnificent that it tells of the only Almighty One, YHWH. It thrills our soul. Our spirit sings when He is near.)

 

“YOUR KINGDOM COME” (As You reign in heaven, bring Your good, pleasant, and magnificent kingdom to dwell among us. This part of the prayer addresses our spiritual need of God to reign around and in us, to give us renewed spiritual life through and in Him, 

which means…)

 

“YOUR WILL BE DONE” (only You, YHWH, are supremely good and cause only good to occur. LORD, may Your will alone be done)

 

“HERE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN” (as recorded in Matthew 6:10) (We recognize Your goodness, greatness, and omnipotence. I AM. Have Your throne among us, Lord.)

 

“GIVE US EACH DAY OUR DAILY BREAD” (This prayer now addresses our physical earthly needs and recognizes our need to remain in God’s family. We fool ourselves thinking we can go off on our own and live life for ourselves. We are dependent on God for His good gifts of life-sustenance.)

 

“AND FORGIVE US OUR SINS” (Recognize only God is able to absolutely forgive, pardon, and remove the stain and guilt our sins place on and in us. This is our recognition God is Savior and Redeemer. We confess we are aware God made our spirits and we need His nurture and cleansing spiritually. We are dependent on God spiritually whether we recognize it or not. Jesus led the disciples to recognize that through this prayer. This statement comes from our heart, soul, mind, and body.)

 

“FOR WE OURSELVES ALSO FORGIVE ANYONE WHO IS INDEBTED TO US” (We are only able to do this because God has shown us how to do it through His forgiveness of us and has put this goodness in us when He did. He began making us like Him and drawing us into a right relationship when He did. We also need to be in right relationships with other people. This affects our hearts, too.)

 

“AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION” (Remind us that You, YHWH, give us hope, daily bodily sustenance, forgiveness, and daily right relationships with YOU and other people. What more do we need. You provide for our bodies, spirits, minds, and hearts. Make us content with these summum donum—supreme gifts. Nothing a temptation offers is better than what You, YHWH, give us though we don’t deserve anything from You.)

 

God gives better than bread, fish, and egg. He gives Life, Eternality/Food (life and family forever), and Solace and Freedom (forgiveness of our sins and power over temptations). Jesus is the Bread of Life. He is the Way to eternal Life. Jesus is the Redeemer who gives freedom from the death of eternal mourning because of our separation from God forever. 

 

God gives even better than the best earthly father. He gives supremely good gifts—summam donum. His gifts give us life and freedom for our bodies, minds, souls, and hearts. The Lord’s Prayer expresses that. It expresses God’s supreme greatness and our absolute need of Him in our whole being. So much more will the Father in heaven give those who ask of Him. 

 

Seek. Knock. Ask. (Luke 12:10)

Ask YHWH for faith in Jesus. 

Ask Him for forgiveness and freedom. 

Ask Him for the Living Bread. 

Ask YHWH for the Holy Spirit. 

Ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. 

 

Our ABBA in heaven, holy is YOUR name!

Love gives Hope

 

 

“After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10)

 

Note, when a person is called by God, it’s a calling to Him, His glory, and His kingdom. It’s not a random calling to  something vague. Peter reminded these Christians of the hope of their faith in Christ. God called them to His glory—to be with Him forever in His presence in His kingdom. 

 

Peter does not leave these Christians to hold onto just that hope they have because of belief in Christ. He reminds them of four promises that will affect them then. These are promises that are for now and not yet. What are they? Restoration. Security. Security. Establishing. These give a Christian the ability to hold on to their future hope.

 

Restoration is perfecting. This restoration ethically perfects/completes Christians and returns them to the image in which God originally created humanity before the fall in the garden of Eden. Restoration (perfection) is nothing humans can do for themselves because all are sinful. This perfection must come down from the author and source of perfection and righteousness. Only God can perfect people and that will only happen when the Christian no longer is alive in bodily form but has entered into heaven. Right now Christians are being perfected by Jesus through His indwelling Holy Spirit. When they die, Jesus will fully perfect them with His righteousness because of His grace, love, and mercy.

 

Jesus securing his brothers and sisters (Christians) is His firmly establishing them in their faith. He provides a firm foundation in the hearts, minds, and spirits of believers so they don’t lose faith but continue living without doubt or fear. 

 

Strengthening goes in tandem with securing.  This strengthening from God allows Christians to carry their faith actively into their lives. It affects their lives so that they affect the lives of other people. This strengthening is the living out through the body the security (absolute belief) in the firm foundation Jesus gives us in our hearts, minds, and spirits. 

 

Establishing is Jesus’ erecting in the soul of believers the absolute knowledge He is the Son of God and their Savior who lived, died, and rose again because of God’s love so they could receive His grace, mercy, and forgiveness and be restored into union with Him by believing in Jesus. This is the security—the firm establishment of of Himself and our salvation—in their souls, so that whatever troubles, persecutions, or torments may arise against them, their faith in Jesus will not fail and that God has them securely in His hand. Nothing can separate believers from Him (Romans 8:38-39). No matter what happens in life, their salvation and eternity cannot be taken from them. 

 

This verse causes Christians to reflect on their faith and remember their faith is not in vain. It rests securely in Jesus. A Christian’s faith is secure, strengthened, and established by almighty Jesus and backed by His ever faithful promises. Jesus’ promises are for Christians now and in the future. He will walk with believers throughout their lives giving them these things—security, strength, and establishing—then lead them into His eternal kingdom when their mortal lives are over. Through their saving, securing, strengthening, and establishing, Jesus’ work of perfection occurs in the lives of Christians. This work and the first promise in 1 Peter 5:10 will not be completed until the mortal lives of Christians are finished. 

 

These four promises affect a believer’s soul, heart, mind, spirit, and body. Though we believers may stumble, fear, and doubt, Peter says we can know we are saved and safe because, through Jesus’ Spirit, He is bolstering, strengthening, establishing, and securing us so that we are not overcome now and can know we are safely resting in His hands from where nothing can separate us and where nothing formed against us will stand forever (Isaiah 54:17).

 

Each believer is on their own journey with Jesus. We are each at different places on that journey. Yet each of us can know these truths and promises are with us and can rest in them. God is faithful. Though it may look like the storms in our lives are too great, Jesus is with us securing, strengthening, establishing, and perfecting us. He never leaves us. We are His when we believe in Him as our Lord and Savior and nothing can ever separate us from Him. Hold on to that hope. Hold on to those promises.

 

If you are not a Christian and do not have these promises and hopes in your life, you can be. Admit you need a Savior. Believe Jesus is God’s Son and died for your sins (wrongdoings). Confess your sins to Him and promise not to do them again through the strength Jesus gives you by His Spirit. It’s as simple as A.B.C. Living correctly in a sinful world is hard. Living eternally with God is impossible without belief in Jesus. 

 

Have hope. Receive salvation, perfection, security, strength, and establishing through Jesus.