The book of Ruth is renowned for the love story of Ruth
and Boaz…a beautiful story of love blooming from Ashes and of restoration…
Yet the first half of this story involves 3 women,
Ruth, her sister-in-law Orpah and mother-law Noami in Moab. After the death of all 3 husbands only Ruth lovingly
stays with Noami. The story shows godly
committed love…and from a non-Jewish woman at that! The 2 women return to Bethlehem together to
start over…and the rest is wonderfully romantic, telling of God’s wonderful
restoration for the 2 women. You can
read it here: Book of Ruth.
There are no accidents in God’s Word and we need to take them seriously…this godly, selfless, committed, genuine love shown by Ruth was so honoured by God that Ruth (a Moabite woman) ended up bearing a son to Boaz, becoming a part of Jesus Christ’s family line.
This godly love and commitment, I believe is how we
should aim to live as Christians…walking alongside one another…ministering to
one another from genuine love, not from any selfish reasons or expecting
anything in return.
We can never earn our salvation and relationship with God,
no amount of good loving deeds can pay the cost for our sins and none are even
needed, for salvation is a gift from God. We just need to accept the free gift, repent of our sins, choosing Jesus to be in charge of our life. We can however out of gratitude and thanks, love others because
of God’s awesome love for us. In fact we can't help us when we have the Holy Spirit living inside us for He is LOVE!
Yet in our fast paced, self-orientated world, we can sometimes easily get distracted from genuinely loving others and being faithfully committed to our nearest and dearest God puts us alongside…
I’ve been reminded today by the song, 'I’m with you', by
Nichole Nordeman and Amy Grant based upon Naomi and Ruth to keep loving and
journeying alongside the people He has put me with…to be genuinely committed, to
truly be able to show Christ’s love.
Let me share the songwithyou...Be encouraged to love with no limits, just as Christ loves you!
Love Melanie.
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