Christians have the daily challenge of maintaining heavenly-mindedness in the midst of an earthly existence. Happily, the Lord knows our weaknesses and has given us guidance to meet the challenge. In the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9–15, Jesus’ simple but profound instruction on how to pray directs His followers to ask for “daily bread.” This request differs from all the others in the example because it refers to earthly things. It acknowledges and puts in perspective our material needs and serves as a guide for our prayers about seemingly mundane matters.

First, it shows our Lord’s loving awareness of our earthly needs. We are not angels but flesh and blood in need of daily physical nourishment. Jesus’ direction to pray this way even before we plead for forgiveness demonstrates that this request in no way contradicts the pursuit of heavenly-mindedness. As Jesus changes the focus of His instructions from God’s Name and Kingdom to our needs, He begins with this request related strictly to physical life. We are being obedient and thus ARE being spiritual when we ask our heavenly Father for something to eat. The reference to bread brings the farmer and his toil to mind—which is about as earthy as it gets!

Another lesson from Jesus’ prayer guidance is that while our basic physical needs are a prayer priority, laying up earthly treasure is not. Jesus could have followed the exhortation to pray for daily bread with an exhortation to pray about laying up sufficient earthly treasure for a comfortable, enjoyable life. But instead of stressing further material needs, He stresses the needs of the heart, particularly forgiveness and deliverance from evil.

The Apostle Paul also treats the theme of how to view earthly treasure correctly. Some professing believers and even teachers have a twisted view of God’s purposes regarding wealth and financial gain. They view God’s blessing in material terms. They think that “godliness is a means of gain” (1 Timothy 6:5)¹, that is, that religion can and should lead to prosperity. However, they are stressing not the godliness but the gain and perversely use the show of “godliness” to increase the gain. Such people are preying, not praying. They use a show of godliness for getting material profit from the unsuspecting. For example, even if their teaching is not biblical, they may get rich with a well-oiled, well-advertised, popular television presence.

Paul goes on to state that despite appearances, their greedy pursuit ultimately brings not gain but “ruin and destruction,” “[a wandering] from the faith” and “many pangs” (1 Timothy 6:9–10). We avoid this spiritual ruin by praying, “Lord, I brought nothing into the world, and I can take nothing out, so having food and clothing help me to be content” (see 1 Timothy 6:7–8). Are you content? How do you pray about your needs for living on this earth?