Are You Eating Stale Bread!?

These days everyone is trying to be a frugal shopper, purchasing extra items when they are on sale. We have several friends who love the thrill of bargain hunting at thrift stores, like Salvation Army.

Another kind of thrift store we frequent is our local Thrift Bakery where ‘day-old’ bread is half-priced. You may not shop at a Thrift Bakery; but that doesn’t mean you are not eating ‘day-old’ bread. Modern preservatives and innovate packaging allow us to keep a loaf of bread on our shelves for days! In the developing world where there is neither preservative nor packaging, bread goes stale overnight, and is thrown out to dogs or pigs the next day. When I lived in Afghanistan, we bought our bread (‘Nan’) hot and fresh every day right out of the baker’s clay oven. By next morning it was as hard as a rock.

When Jesus taught the disciples to pray for their daily bread, he spoke metaphorically as well as literally: He Himself was the bread of life, even the Bread which comes down from heaven (Jn. 6:33, 35). They knew He meant the ‘manna’ God had showered on their ancestors in the wilderness—fresh bread from heaven every morning for 40 years. But it had to be eaten that day—not saved. Any thrifty Jewish mother trying to save any found it spoiled overnight. God was teaching them at least two important lessons: 1) He provides all we need daily, and 2) He likes things “fresh.”

After our rebirth, we are told to walk in the newness of life (Ro. 6:4)! The word newness means something is never old—it is always fresh. When you walk in the newness of life, you will always have some fresh experience with the Lord, or a fresh slice of the Word to share with others. If your relationship with God seems stale at times, perhaps you're eating day-old bread. If you eat a daily serving of God’s fresh bread, not only will you be fresh, you will freshen others.