Goodness (3) - Goodness of Ruth
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March 03, 2013 |
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 "But Ruth said, 'Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me'" (Ruth 1:16-17).
Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
In the Old Testament of the Bible, we can encounter a woman who, through her good heart, led a more blessed life than anybody else though she was faced with a miserable situation. It was Ruth. She lost her husband though young, but she served her mother-in-law heartily and accomplished goodness in fulfilling her duty even in such a hopeless situation.
As a result, Ruth was blessed to be in the genealogy of Jesus as David's great-grandmother although she was a Gentile woman. What were the goodness and deeds that made her such a blessed woman?
1. Ruth fulfilled her duty until the end
Ruth was a Gentile woman living in Moab. She married an Israelite man who moved to Moab to escape from a severe famine. However, all the men in the family died without any offspring, and there were only Ruth, her mother-in-law, Naomi and her sister-in-law, Orpah left. In that situation, Ruth's mother-in-law, Naomi, heard that there was an abundant harvest in Bethlehem, so she prepared to return home. Naomi had pity on her daughters-in-law who had to live without hope in a family where there was no longer a man. She advised them to return to their home country.
So, Orpah wept and left her mother-in-law, but Ruth still clung to her until the end. She said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God" (Ruth 1:16).
But if Ruth had a mind to seek her own benefit, what would she have done? She could have just said a couple of times that she wouldn't leave, but then she too could have left Naomi pretending to be forced by her to leave. But Ruth, who had a good heart, couldn't leave her mother-in-law who was now also alone. This was because her heart of goodness that wanted to follow her duty didn't change in any kind of situation until the end.
2. The Goodness of Ruth that was acknowledged by God
1) The heart to sacrifice and follow one's duty
If Ruth had not followed her mother-in-law but returned to her hometown, she could have met with her family and relatives and gotten re-married. But if she followed her mother-in-law, what would be in the days ahead for her? For her mother-in-law, it was her hometown, but for Ruth, it was a strange place. Their livelihood was not certain there either. Furthermore, since her mother-in-law was old, Ruth had to take the responsibility of making a living. Still, Ruth didn't calculate what would be better for her, but she boldly chose the way of doing her duty to serve her mother-in-law who would have been alone.
The goodness to do one's duty works in the same way not only in families, but also in your workplaces. Our members sometimes ask me the following type of question. They ask, "I have been offered a job where I can be paid more, what should I do?" They ask me this question because they want to follow the good will of God before they choose to take what is beneficial for them.
If you received great help when you were in difficulties, or if you learned the skills to become a good technician in your current company, you should think what kind of action is truly good. Not to forsake the grace you've received is one's duty and goodness. If you still feel that you should change your workplace, you must not cause any harm to your current company that has given benefit to you. However, if you give up your benefits to follow the way to fulfill your duty by believing in God, God the Father will surely pay you back with better things.
Even within faith we can see those who have a good heart to do their duty grow more quickly in spirit. Those who are good in their hearts are grateful for the grace of the Lord and the love of God who saved them from sins, so they naturally acknowledge that to live according to will of God is their duty. They keep the whole Sabbath, give whole tithe, and practice His commandments. If you have a good heart to do your duty, you will not feel it is a waste to give tithes to God.
If you experience God's grace through the Holy Spirit, you come to know everything you have is actually from God, and you will not feel burdened about God's Word that tells you to give one tenth of your income as evidence of showing your faith. So, even new-believers who have good hearts keep the Sabbath and give proper tithes from the beginning stages of their faith.
If we have goodness in following our duty like Ruth, God will let us increase our spiritual faith by experiencing His work in both spirit and body.
2) The heart to follow one's duty with diligence and truth
The God of love doesn't delight in something that we are forced to do. He is pleased with things we do with diligence and truth from freewill and He blesses such people. Ruth went to the land of Judah following her mother-in-law. She never regretted choosing to follow her mother-in-law and served her with an unchanging heart.
When she arrived in Bethlehem of Judah, she immediately had to find something to eat. She had to glean the field for grain that was dropped among the sheaves. Yet, even in that she was happy that she could serve her mother-in-law. After her work of the day she told her mother-in-law what happened during the day in detail. She served her mother-in-law with great faithfulness and love as if she served her own mother.
Naomi also loved Ruth very much with her true heart thinking of her like her own daughter. These deeds of Ruth were known to the people of Bethlehem and she was praised by the people. Eventually, an influential man there named Boaz became the kinsman redeemer and took Ruth as his wife. Ruth received great blessing spiritually and materially (Ruth 2:20; Leviticus 25:25). Ruth gave birth to Boaz's son, Obed. Obed was the grandfather of David, and through this, Ruth is in the genealogy of Jesus even though she was a Gentile woman.
Those with good hearts do not stop doing good deeds somewhere in the middle. Because it is the pleasing will of God to sacrifice oneself for the benefit of others and to follow the proper way of man, people with good hearts like Ruth do good deeds without change of heart. Doing good deeds unchangingly in any kind of situation is to accomplish the perfect will of God the Father.
How should we act as children of God who know God and the word of truth? We are saved by the grace of the Lord from the way of eternal death and received the promise of eternal life. It is duty of man to pay back the grace he has received. Moreover, the father of our spirit is God, and we are His children. I want you to check whether you have fulfilled your duty as God's children by doing what pleases Him.
Especially those of you who confess to offer their lives to the Lord with thanks for His grace, you should check whether or not your heart has changed somewhere in the middle. I urge you to firmly believe that God the Father will cause everything to turn out for the good and give you the best things. I hope by doing so you will run with thanks and joy always though you are faced with some difficulties (Habakkuk 3:17-19).
Dear brothers and sisters, are you serving your family members and your spiritual family members in church with good hearts as a member of these families? If you are God's true child, you will follow your duty both in spirit and body with a heart that is unchanging. Therefore, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will completely accomplish goodness in fulfilling you duties like Ruth so that you will receive the grace that God has prepared for those who are good.
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