April 7 - Ruth 1:16

Ruth replied,

"Don't ask me to leave you and turn back.

I will go wherever you go and live wherever you live.

Your people will be my people,

and your God will be my God."

Ruth 1:16

 

I love the simple short story of Ruth -- one of David's grandmothers ... which means, one of Jesus' great-great-many-times-great-grandmothers too.

 

And I love how God wove the path of salvation through other cultures like through Ruth's Moabite roots.

 

And I love most of all the way Ruth honored her mother-in-law, a widow. Naomi actually asked Ruth to separate and stay home in Moab. But Ruth said -- and I can't help but hear it through the Chris Tomlin song (click here) -- "Where you go, I'll go; Where you live, I'll live. I will follow you."

 

I covet that simple pattern of ... love ... trust ... obedience ... submission.

 

And here's the best part: We don't love, trust, or obey for rewards -- because often we'll never see their full fruit in this life. But sometimes, our faithfulness does get noticed!

 

Boaz, for example, took note of Ruth's character and responded to her -- a foreign woman -- with generosity. And Ruth replied, "2:10 What have I done to deserve such kindness?" And Boaz said, "2:11 I ... know about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband ... 12 May the Lord ... reward you fully."

 

God did!

 

And he rewarded kind-hearted Boaz too, with a wife ... and children ... and his own link to the Messiah through Ruth!

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who's striving for simplicity

and its fruits