Wonderous Wednesay Devotional- Pushing Past External/Superficial Labels

” The number one problem in our world is alienation, rich versus poor, black versus white, labor versus management, East versus West… But Christ came to bring about reconciliation and peace.” ~ Billy Graham

Pushing Past External/Superficial Labels

Peeking behind GOD’s veil has been a fascination of mine for the last 12 years of my life!

I don’t know, perhaps/ maybe that is why HE called me to share HIS Word with others!

As an inspiring teacher what I have found is that God is the best teacher I know! He never ceases to use a moment or one life experience as a means of revealing more about HIMSELF us and HIS awesome plans for us separately and collectively.

I have a question for you ( my friends) today.

What if you were viewed as being of a lesser status by some faction in society; would you have the nerve the guts to go to said establishment without malice or anger in your heart and still petition for what your needs?

Mark 7:24-30 New Living Translation Second Edition

24 Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret.25 Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit,26 and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter.

Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia,27 Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children—my own family, the Jews.  It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”
28 She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.”
29 “Good answer!” he said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.”30 And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.

This passage above has caused many to take offense by mentioning of the word dog as it pertains to people and the eating of scraps from under a table.

But this morning GOD gave me a lovely illustration of how food scraps in the hands of proficient homemaker can become her family’s next meal.Scraps are not the same as trash and can be skillfully woven together to make an eye please delicious meal!

And the mention of the word ‘dog’ refers to a spiritually unclean condition and at that time in history the oracles of GOD had not been shared with the rest of the world (gentiles) and were exclusive to the seed of Abraham or what is more commonly known as the Jews.

And it’s true, one would feed the family members first before feeding the family pet any of the left over scraps. Jesus was born Jewish and therefore the Jewish people represented family in terms of heritage purely on a physical plane of life.

Jesus Christ is able to do away with the strict adherence to so many outer ordinances in favor of a deeper revelation of their inner meaning because HE is the perfect fulfillment of all that the Law entailed!

And we as gentiles ( non Jewish by birth) are no longer seen as “unclean” spiritually when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Mark 7:17-23 New Living Translation Second Edition

17 Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used.18 “Don’t you understand either?” he asked. “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you?19 Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)
20 And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you.21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”

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• The Bible In Our World (Part 24) (thebiblemeditator.wordpress.com)