Good Afternoon Friends,
Family, Foes … Everyone
Yes, I am greeting everyone
this afternoon
Remember I said in our post 'choose to
love',
‘Not everyone who comes to check on you is checking to see that you are
doing well’?
But, if they take the time to check – you should at least be cordial
Why? Because we love all people and we trust the Holy Spirit
to move – with all people
Now, that is not directly my topic this morning – but it is still all about love
And this morning, I want us all to understand something:
No
matter what it looks like, no matter how it feels, irrespective of how long the
storm has been raging, despite your weariness – it’s not over
We have spent a great deal of time talking about Naomi
However, I would like to shift gears and talk about Ruth –
the namesake of our Bible book
Now, we already know how Ruth’s story ended
But it would have been really easy, at any point along the way, for her to believe it was over
Therefore, I would like to focus on how Ruth’s story evolved and
the role that love played
Ruth faced loss similar to Naomi – they both lost husbands
But where Naomi turned to bitterness – Ruth focused on
living in love
She loved Naomi enough to leave parents, friends, country
and everything familiar
She loved her future enough to refuse to be stuck in the past
Sounds extreme but, as we’ve noted previously, love will make you do some things
Now, we know from yesterday that Ruth ended up with a new love storyShe ends up catching the eye of a local bachelor named Boaz
But what was it that Boaz found attractive about Ruth?
In a culture where widows were seen as misfortuned, what
would make him take a chance?
It was her faithful and sacrificing nature … it
was her love
“I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband – how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Ruth 2:11-12
Ruth’s name means ‘compassionate friend’ and that is exactly who she was
Her reputation of being a loving friend went before her and spoke on her behalf
Boaz had been told of what a friend she had been to Naomi
It had reached his attention all the things she did in love for
her mother-in-law
He had been made aware of her selfless nature
Selflessness is attractive – selflessness
not selfishness
And Boaz quickly took notice
You will recall his name means ‘swiftness’,
Emphasizing how quickly a situation
can change when you walk in love
Even when you think it is over, the LORD can turn things
around with a swiftness
It’s not over
Love will position you to keep believing when it seems all
is lost
Love can pave the way for you to begin again
Love refuses to let you stagnate, remaining frozen in the
past
Love will propel you
forward –
Love lets you know that it’s
not over
It creates new beginnings for you – just like it did for
Ruth
And aren’t we all glad that she did not stop walking and
living in love?
After all, she ended up becoming Jesus’ great-great grandma
by over forty generations
So today – whatever you are facing, 'Keep going! It’s not over!'
‘Eye has not seen, ear
has not heard, neither has it entered into the mind the things God has prepared
for those who love Him.’ I Corinthians 2:9
You never know what God has in store for you …
‘ I know the plans I have for you,
declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you
a hope and a future’
Jeremiah
29:11
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