Archive for the ‘Ruth’ tag
Character & Compassion
Jesus taught us to pray:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.For or yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.”
If there are any two messages that have been my passion over the years, it would be these two things:
- We are called to live both the character (holy & righteous) and the compassion (love & social-justice) of God
- We are called to follow Jesus, so the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John) should be the most worn parts of our Bible
Today, as I shared a message centered around the book of Ruth in the Old Testament, I was reminded again of how important the faithfulness of one person matters. Without Naomi refusing to give up, without the loyalty of Ruth and her desire to follow the One True God, and without the social concern of Boaz, Jesus would have come from a different set of ancestors. These people, each in their own way and own situation — Naomi a broken Jewish widow, Ruth a widowed foreigner trying to be faithful to Naomi, and Boaz a farmer/businessman who followed God’s law and provided for the poor — proved faithful. And using their faithfulness, God wove together a display of His Kingdom on earth.
Our choices, our faithfulness, our character & compassion matter and are part of God’s Kingdom coming “on earth as it is heaven.”