Crumbs

By Cheri Cowell –

“Cheri, even the dog deserves your crumbs,” my mother would warn when I was being stingy and judgemental. Once again, unbeknownst to me, she was delivering a biblical truth. The first indictment in this statment is the division in my own mind of people into categories. We all do this, but it isn’t biblical. The second indictment was even more stinging. Without saying it outright, my mother was calling my attitude into question. I was judging some to be lowly like a dog, and therefore undeserving of my respect, love, and compassion. Jesus used these same points in this parable lesson.

The Gentiles were looked upon by the Jews with great contempt. They were called and counted as dogs. But see how the tables are turned. After the bringing of the Gentiles into the church, the Jewish zealots for the law are here called dogs. This parable cautions us to beware of our own tendencies to divide people into categories and to label some as worthy and some as unworthy. God has a way of turning tables on us and we may be the ones begging for crumbs from His table.
“Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment” (Matthew 15:21-28 NIV).
PRAYER: Dear God, please forgive me for the times when I’ve bowed to the tendency to categorize people and thus label some as more worthy of my love, respect, and compassion. Help me to respond more like Jesus who views all as worthy and valuable children of God.

Getting Technical

By Cheri Cowell –

A while back I decided it was time to merge my e-mail list into a program where I could send my e-mailed devotions while I’m on the road. Even though they touted this program as being user-friendly, I was about as friendly with it as a porcupine is with a dog. My first step was to import all the e-mail addresses- so far so good. Then I cut and pasted my devotionals into the text box- again, so far so good. Then I was asked to whom I wanted to send the test message? I inserted my own e-mail address and clicked, “send test message.” It then gave me a happy smile with the words, “test sent,” so I went to my e-mail and, you guessed it, no message. I figured I needed a break so I left the computer and when I returned my in-box was filled with messages from my readers. Over a hundred people signed up for my new e-mail program, and I don’t even know what they received! I am so glad God does not have a technical abilities test before we can enter heaven. There is only one test.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the do’s and don’ts of the faith journey that we forget the simplicity of it all. And just like my frustrations with the technicalities of a newsletter program that is supposed to make things easier, we can get lost in the technicalities of the Christian faith. But let us be reminded today, there is only one test, Christ Jesus in us. That’s as technical as it gets.

PRAYER: Thank You, God, for providing the test and the answer to the test. Help me remember when I get lost in the technicalities of the faith, that there is only one test and one answer- Christ Jesus in me.

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Cor. 13:5 ESV).

Spiritual Adultery

By Cheri Cowell –

One day while substitute teaching, I had a Kindergartener who did not want to follow any of my instructions. After the fifth or sixth time correcting him, one of the other children in the class said, “He never listens. He always does what he wants.”

To which I answered, “Wow that must be hard.” The boy stopped and looked at me quizzically. I then explained I had found that many of the people around me knew a lot of things I did not know and when I stopped long enough to listen, I saved myself a lot of heartache. It is the same thing with God and me. Sometimes I don’t listen and keep on doing what I want to do. But God has a better plan.

The bit of wisdom in today’s proverb is tucked in the midst of the chapter on the dangers of adultery. Although these scriptures make it clear they are speaking of sexual adultery, we can also glean the significance of a spiritual adultery. It says if we gain satisfaction, power, and esteem from anything other than God, then we have committed a sort of spiritual adultery. The penalty for adultery in Bible times was stoning, but God’s remedy is His grace. All He asks is that we turn from our ways and acknowledge Him. What an awesome God!

PRAYER: God, forgive me for allowing other things to become substitutes for the real thing—for You. Help me learn Your commands, learn Your teachings, and accept Your discipline. Thank You for being my lamp, my light, and my way which leads me away from spiritual adultery and into your forgiving arms.

“When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life” (Proverbs 6:22-23 NIV).

Hangnails

By Cheri Cowell –

Hangnails have to be one of the most annoying things of life. They are an irritant that won’t easily go away. We usually get a hangnail when we are nowhere near a pair of clippers and an Emory board. So we end up just dealing with it the best we can by either trying to ignore it or putting a bandage over it. Neither option actually fixes the problem, which only gets worse until we repair the damaged nail. God knows all about hangnails and other irritants in life. In fact, He allows them, sometimes to help us know our human limitations. What do I mean?

Much speculation has taken shape over ‘Paul’s thorn’ mentioned in today’s scripture lesson and what that thorn could have been. I actually like the fact that it was not spelled out. In this way all of us can relate his suffering to our own thorns, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. How assuring it is that Paul, who was loved dearly by God for his great faith, asked God three times to remove his thorn and God said ‘no.’ Because of that we can be assured He loves us greatly even when He has to say ‘no’ to us.

PRAYER: Thank-You, God, for being with me in whatever difficult situation I am in today. I praise You for being my strength and ask that my weaknesses may be used to glorify You in spite of life’s little irritants.

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:7-9 ESV).

Invited

By Cheri Cowell –

Twenty-four hour news coverage is wonderful when something big is happening and we need to know what’s going on, but sometimes it can be so intrusive. Such is the case when a tragedy strikes and a camera is shoved in the faces of grieving parents who just discovered their child is never coming home. Or a heartbroken husband who is caught between his anger that his wife’s life was brutally ended and the news reporter’s request for a compassionate response to the search party volunteers. At times like these I want to turn my head, turn off the TV, or change the channel. I feel like we are intruding into someone’s personal and private anguish. I feel that way, too, when I enter the garden where Jesus is praying in Gethsemane. It is almost too painful to watch, too personal a moment to intrude upon, too private a moment for us to be a part of. But we are invited there. We are invited to see all that human suffering and anguish can bear. We are invited in to see and to experience.

Can you imagine yourself there in the garden with Jesus that night? Picture what His demeanor must have been, what His clothes looked like. Was the night air still or was there a breeze? Can you hear the noise of the city in the background? Can you smell the scent of spring in the air? As Jesus prays, is He speaking aloud? Is He angry with God or pleading? Does He sound like He’s talking with someone He knows well, and who knows Him well? Look closely now as Jesus struggles with the decision. Don’t turn away. Look into His eyes. See the pain, and yet feel the love. This is the love He has for you and for me.

“Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. ‘Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation'” (Luke 22:39-46 NIV).

PRAYER:
For the next few days, Lord, help me stay close to You, to watch as this Greatest Story Ever Told unfolds before my eyes. Help me not to turn away. May my prayers be filled less with words and more with emotions as I pour out my awe and gratitude to the One who loves me so.

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