Seven Crumbs From The Master's Table - Mothers Day

Crumb #5. Despite the opposition or the bleak circumstances your child might be going through stay on the righteous path and persistently and humbly keep on asking God for aid and wisdom to raise your child in a manner that pleases Him!

Do not become so busy and self-confident that you stop praying for the absolute best of God’s discipleship and spiritual blessings in your child’s life! When your answer to prayer is silence read how the widow through her persistence got justice from the unjust judge in Luke 18:1-8. When you have no idea how to best help your child ask God and if you believe and do not doubt you shall receive from the Master bread that can fill the soul (James 1:5-8). While your child does not come with an “earthly” manual on how best to raise him/her do not forget you have access not only to the Creator’s instruction manual that has much to say about child rearing, but also to the Spirit of truth who knows the deepest things of both you and your child’s very soul. If you rely on God by reading His word and persistently ask for His help in raising the children God gave you then you will one day hear the words “you were a great parent to the children, I gave you!”

Unworthy and yet Justified

Since Jesus was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel, he responded to the Canaanite woman’s request for help by stating, “it would not be right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs” (verse 26). While dogs in the Old Testament were often scavenging and predatory, there were also working dogs who had a minor place in the extended family but even then not fed at the expense of the children going without food! Since “dogs” in the Old Testament was a Jewish term of abuse for Gentiles, Jesus was in essence suggesting that Gentiles, who were not part of the covenant promise (1 Samuel 17:43; Psalms 22:16; Proverbs 26:11), had no rights to receive aid from the Master. To His argument the Canaanite woman, who I believe had already acknowledged Jesus as her Messiah by calling Him “Son of David,” said even the dogs had a caring relationship with their master and as such “eat crumbs from their table” (verse 27)! This brings me to my sixth suggestion in being a good mom.

Crumb #6. While you are not worthy to approach God’s throne of grace, through your belief in the atoning sacrifice of His Son you can do so boldly because you are an heir of His family!

While you must never forget it was by grace and faith you were saved (Ephesians 2:8-9) neither should you see yourself as a “Gentile dog” to be starved at the Master’s table. You are a redeemed masterpiece of God’s grace, grafted into the vine with all the honor and privileges of being a son or daughter of your Lord, Savior and King (John 15:1-11; Galatians 4:7)! So, like the Canaanite woman bow exceptionally low in deep reverence when you make your request known to God but do so with the glorious expectation that God will always do good to those who love Him (Romans 8:28)!

Unsurmountable Faith

What happened next in this story truly has solidified this nameless Canaanite woman forever into the canals of history and our hearts! You see when Jesus used the term “dog” to mean all Gentiles He was not doing so to degrade or exclude them from His kingdom, for He truly died once and for all (Romans 6:10), but “with compassion in His eyes that robbed His words of any perceived insult and bitterness” Christ was merely testing the woman’s faith! Jesus was her Messiah and even if she was yet to be in the covenant her Master was more than powerful, loving and kind enough to grant her food in the form of a spiritual victory over the demons who ravaged her daughters mind and body! This brings me to my seventh and final suggestion in being a good mom.