On a daily basis we have anxieties that direct our focus.  We have to worry about work, school, getting up in the morning, making sure we have something to eat, etc.  Many times the day gets away from us due to the busyness of it.  This brings to us the great questions: ‘What is truly important today?’  Yes our day has many things, but what do we truly need? The Lord’s Prayer causes us to reflect on what we want the Lord to give us this day.

              The word daily translates from the Greek word epiousios.  The curious thing about the word is that it does not appear really anywhere else in Greek except for the Gospels.  One way to interpret the word is ‘what is necessary for existence.’  With this understanding, the petition in the Lord’s Prayer focuses on what we need to live.  What are the things we own or do in our daily life that we truly need to live?  We do need to work in order to earn a living in order to pay for food and other things for ourselves and our families.  As already said, we need food and other things to survive physically.   The word seems to encourage us to separate the things we truly need today for survival from the things we think we need.

              Physical survival is not the only focus of the word.  Epiousios can also be translated to mean ‘give us today what we need for the future.’  It might seem like a paradox to petition something daily that also petitions the future, but when we focus on what we are asking for they become one in the same.  Beyond physical survival is eternal life.  What we need today spiritually feeds us for the hope of the future of eternal life.  In this understanding of the word we break free of earthly necessities and bridge into things of the soul.  Grace and faith are the true things we need every day to fuel us to grow towards eternal life. 

              The word daily in the Lord’s Prayer brings out for us the things we truly need in our lives.  It brings out the things that are truly important.  The things that are important to our physical survival during our time on earth, but also things we need for salvation into eternal life.  Let us separate out of our lives the things that can be extra and ask the Lord to provide daily the things we need truly for Him.