Editorial July 31, 1909 Issue

DAILY BREAD

Annie M. Knott

It is now very generally admitted by religious thinkers that the "daily bread" for which we ask in the Lord's Prayer means very much more than material food. There are, however, few who would maintain that spiritual food is even more necessary than material—that we cannot in any true sense live without it; but this is what Christian Science insists upon, and the students of Christian Science find it to be an actual fact in their daily experience. Most people believe that they can pass a whole day—or even many days—without partaking of "the bread which cometh down from heaven" and which Christ Jesus said "giveth life unto the world," and this wrong belief is without doubt responsible for much suffering, as well as sin. To use Paul's words, "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep [the sleep of death]."

What sort of health would one expect to have if he went to work without any food, and perhaps continued without any throughout the day? Yet this food is of far less importance to us—even to our bodily health—than is the spiritual food which we should undoubtedly seek "first." It is not enough to say that we partook of the truth yesterday; we must have our "daily bread." Mortals are too apt to think that man's heavenly Father has not provided the needed supply, while the fact is that they forget to avail themselves of it. The Israelites were commanded to gather their manna each day, and this is an object-lesson for us, with almost infinite applications. The words of truth which we read yesterday should have a higher meaning for us today, hence a broader application to our needs.

The interpretation of some passage, of a commandment possibly, which we share with others, may indeed be spiritual bread to us, though such interpretations should never be crystallized into formulas, for thus they lose their real value. The Commandments and the Beatitudes, also the statements of our text-book, are infinite in their scope, and no exposition, however clear, can exhaust their meaning or possible application. In reality, "God is His own interpreter," and this is what our Leader has recognized in providing the Lesson-Sermons; while the expositions of the Scriptures by Sunday School teachers and writers in our periodicals do not so much aim to interpret as to clear away the misconceptions of the Word which have sprung up with man-made creeds and material opinions, also to stimulate the thought of pupils and readers to demonstrate the truths contained in God's Word. The practice of truth is the important consideration, and the dispelling of the mists of false belief as to God, man, and law is of vital importance to all mankind, in that it makes intelligent practice possible.

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