A New Understanding About the Dogs

Awhile back I was struggling with the meaning of Mathew 15:24-26. This passage of scripture was about the Canaanite woman who was pleading repeatedly to Jesus for her demon possessed daughter. The disciples wanted to send her away and Jesus responded in what seemed to be a callous way. He told her  “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” (verse 26 NIV). I was blessed to have a knowledgeable brother help me with a basic understanding of that passage, whose blog is on my list, (shameless plug for him!!) Therefore I have an understanding that this series of events was not some example of an exclusive Jewish club that Jesus was fulfilling. However, I thought of this passage last night after I read my daughter a story and I have gleaned another truth out of it.

I am intentionally steering away from the theological implications and questions that this passage brings up about Jew and Gentile believers. However, I reserve the right to revisit this topic and it’s theological ramifications if the Holy Spirit leads in that direction. What I gathered from some meditation on this scripture was what it says about how important God’s family is to Him. I was also overwhelmed with gratitude that I had a family and a ministry in my home. Also, since my daughter is asking about Bible stories, it appears the Lord has worked in this family. I was also thinking about the times I desired ministry that was fulfilling to me. I also thought about how selfish my “ministry” desires were! Of course ministry outside of the home and neighborhood is important but not necessary for everyone. Therefore, I am grateful that the Lord did not give me a ministry that I was not prepared for. I can also see that my motives were not pure in regards to an attitude of service to my Lord. I wanted want the Lord could give me here and now for me. I was not interested in building a multi-generational legacy of followers of Christ and I surely was not living a life focused in the kingdom to come. In short I was grateful that the Lord did not allow a shallow self centered career plan masquerading as a ministry consume my life. Essentially, I am glad I did not get my way.

I was thinking of all of this after I put my daughter to bed. I thought about how many times I either did not read her a story and how many times I did it and didn’t want to. It revealed my sinfulness, and that my true desire was not to serve the Lord but to be praised by men. I also thought about how hypocritical it would be if I accepted reached out to people outside my family and scorned who was in my family. For instance my wife has talked about adopting (in the future when the finances are better.) What if we did that down the road and at the same time one of my three girls was rebelling. How heartless would I be if I declared that my new adopted child just replaced my natural child and forgot about my natural born children.

I thought about these things and this scripture gave some understanding of how God feels about family.  I found it reassuring that our Lord would honor His covenant with His people first because He said He would. I am so grateful that our Lord put that in the Bible, because it not only shows how important the Jews are to our Lord but it also gives us a picture of how important our children and grandchildren should be to us. Lastly, it revealed to me how God can never forget about His natural children because it is not in His character to do so. I have found that ministry begins at home. I must first give the bread to my children before desiring to give it to others children. After all, who knows if my children will give bread to other children!

Lastly, this revealed  to me that the reason that I was not given a ministry outside of the home was because I desired praise from men and not from God. Sometimes we need to be grateful for what God did not give us!