"One thing is necessary...and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42
Maybe you consider yourself disqualified from Christian ministry. You’re ashamed of your past. You think you’re too old or too young. You’re single or married to a non-believer. You don’t believe He would ask you to serve Him. If you’re saved and walking with Christ, this is a lie.
Ruth’s “why-me?” response echoes through the heart and life of all who have been changed by Christ. When we look at our lives, we’re overwhelmed by the breathtaking mercy of God. We were a people under the curse of sin, destined for hell. But God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ while we were still sinners! He pulled us out of death and set us in his kingdom. Ephesians 1 says he “chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” Such knowledge compels us to cry to our father as Ruth cried to Boaz: “Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me?”
How many times have I pushed and struggled against a ceiling, when the open door was on the ground? The kingdom of God is not like the world. In his kingdom the way up is down. The was to save your life is to lose it.
Hate goes beyond one incident or person to burn the entire culture. It doesn’t seek to discipline, but to destroy. It festers and spreads and is never quenched. It ultimately destroys the host.
Meet-halfway Love is kind. It’s generous. It involves compromise. Neither party feels taken advantage of. It’s the sort of love we can wrap our minds around. The problem is this is NOT the love of Christ.
We don’t have to look far to see famine in our land today. We are a spiritually impoverished nation. We look to worldly leaders and influencers, but like the judges of Ruth, they are powerless to nourish us. We turn inward to try to help ourselves, save ourselves, love ourselves but find we are not the source of anything. There is only one who is able to feed us in famine, and not just feed us but flourish us.
