Weekly Devotional: October 28, 2026

DEVOTIONAL
by Captain Robert Coriston
Corps Officer of Tyler Texas

GOD’S WORD
John 10:10

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

DEVOTIONAL
“Settling For Crumbs”

WAITING FOR SCRAPS

 I used to have a dog named Duke, and Duke had a very predictable dinner routine. Anytime we sat down at the table to eat, Duke would quietly make his way underneath the table and wait.

He knew the system. If he was patient enough, eventually something would fall. A crumb. A piece of bread or maybe a little bit of meat. If he got lucky, somebody might accidentally drop something really good, like a full nugget.

So Duke would sit there underneath the table, watching and waiting, ready to grab whatever hit the floor. He had done it so many times that it had become second nature. Dinner for us meant a meal. Dinner for Duke meant waiting for scraps.

Then one year, on Duke’s birthday, I decided to surprise him. As I was cooking steaks for the family, I thought, “You know what? Duke is getting his own steak today.”

Not a bite of steak. Not a piece of fat trimmed off somebody else’s plate. Not whatever happened to fall underneath the table. His very own steak.

WAITING FOR CRUMBS

So I cooked it, put it on a plate, and set it down on the floor right where his food normally went. Then we all sat down at the table for dinner. I expected Duke to lose his mind. I figured he would run straight toward that plate and devour the whole thing.

But he didn’t.

I looked underneath the table, and there he was. Sitting in his usual spot. Waiting for crumbs. A whole steak sat just a few feet from him, and Duke still stared at the floor under our plates, hoping something would fall.

I remember thinking, “Duke, what are you doing? That steak is for you.” But he didn’t understand that. Maybe he thought he wasn’t allowed to touch it and would get in trouble. Maybe it simply never occurred to him that something that good could actually belong to him. All he knew was the pattern he had learned. He waited for scraps. That was his place.

 Sometimes I wonder if we do the same thing with God. We become so accustomed to surviving that we forget God has called us to live. We become so accustomed to disappointment that hope starts feeling dangerous.

 THAT’S PROBABLY NOT FOR ME

We watch God work in somebody else’s life and celebrate it. We hear someone else’s testimony and believe every word. We watch someone else get restored, healed, reconciled, called, used, transformed. And we say, “God is so good.” But when God starts calling us toward something more, something inside us says, “That’s probably not for me.” I’ll just stay underneath the table and take whatever crumbs fall my direction.

 Sometimes we become so focused on simply not going backward that we forget God may be calling us forward. At first, survival is a miracle. Making it through one day sober is a miracle. Learning to tell the truth is a miracle. Repairing one relationship is a miracle.

 But God did not rescue us so that we could spend the rest of our lives staring at the floor waiting for scraps. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” That does not mean God promises us riches. The “more” God offers is often much deeper than material blessing. It’s more freedom from the person we used to be. More of Christ forming His life in us.

For some, an abundant life might look like becoming a dependable parent again. It might mean waking up without having to remember what you did the night before. It might mean sitting at a dinner table with your family instead of wondering where everybody went. It might mean God using your story to help someone else survive. That is a pretty big steak compared to the crumbs many of us once settled for.

Sometimes we remain mentally underneath the table even after God has placed something better in front of us.

SETTLING FOR CRUMBS

Our circumstances have changed, but our expectations haven’t. Like Duke, we have been conditioned by the past. We know how to survive disappointment. We know how to expect very little. Settling for crumbs feels safer. If you never expect anything, you can never be disappointed.

 But faith requires us to lift our eyes from the floor. At some point, we have to believe that when God places something in front of us, He may actually mean for us to receive it.

Ephesians 3:20 says God is able to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” That is a reminder that God's ability is not limited by the small expectations we have developed.

 Duke wasn’t being denied the steak. He just couldn’t believe the steak was his. And I wonder how often God looks at us while we chase little scraps of acceptance, purpose, peace, or identity and says: “Why are you still settling for table scraps?”

We do not have to spend the rest of our lives defined
by what fell off somebody else’s table.

God can teach us to expect something different. He can teach us to receive grace. He can teach us to walk in freedom. He can teach us to believe that our lives still have purpose.

 Where in your life have you become accustomed to settling for crumbs? Is there something good God has placed in front of you that you have been afraid to believe could really be for you?

PRAYER
Jesus, thank You for coming to give me life.
Forgive me for the ways I have allowed my past
to determine what I expect from my future.
Help me stop settling for crumbs when
You are calling me into freedom,
purpose, peace, and deeper surrender.
Give me the faith to recognize what You
place in front of me and the courage to receive
it. Teach me to trust that You can do more
in my life than I can currently imagine,
not for my glory, but for Yours. Amen.