THE NOBLE AND GENTLE HEROINE, THE POWER OF DECISION MAKING
THE NOBLE AND GENTLE HEROINE, THE POWER OF DECISION MAKING
Ruth 1:14 “So again they cried very much. Then Orpah kissed Naomi goodbye, but Ruth hugged her and stayed”.
Ruth 1:16-17 “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”.
Good morning belovers in Christ,
We thank our God for such a wonderful day given to us and His gift of grace and mercy we have in Christ Jesus our saviour. It is just by His grace and will that sinners like us who were once far of and dead in sin will also be called sons and daughters of the most high God. This great salvation we have in Christ is a precious one, valuable than gold and silver and therefore there is the need for us to be grateful to God. Belovers, there is the need for us to acknowledge this precious grace and how undeserving we are in receiving this gift of grace through Christ Jesus, for apart from this grace what is left for us is death in sin and the perfect wrath of God poured on us.
Today in our search for scriptures, we will be looking at one of the greatest statements and firm decision ever said or taken in the Bible. This story is familiar to most of us who read our bible and even those who haven’t read this personally, you might have heard a sermon preached about this virtuous woman.
Before we look at the decision made by Ruth, let us look at Orpah who though wanted to go with Naomi, but she did not love her much enough to leave behind the things of the world and the beautiful things in Moab for Naomi’s sake. This character of Naomi is commonly found in many Christians of this generation who though have value and affection for CHRIST, but they come to short of salvation by CHRIST, because they are not willing to abandon and forsake the worldly things for CHRIST sake. Such people love Christ just as Orpah loved Naomi, but they walk not in the ways of CHRIST and leave him, because they don’t love CHRIST enough but love other things of the world better.
A better way of looking at the character of Orpah is like those who find themselves in Christianity with an unsteadfast mind. These people are like a half-opened window, door or gate which allows the penetration of a robber, but a firm resolution or a steadfast mindset in our Christian walk will shut and resist the devil force to flee and prevent any forces of darkness from persuading us.
In the decision made by Ruth, we hear in her words forsaking all things for love sake which to me is an essential of all true Christians. It can be seen that Ruth is one of the noble bible characters who suffered the loss of all worldly things and count them but dung so that she will win God for her dearest treasure ( Philippians 3:7-8).
In my salutation, much emphasis was placed on the grace of God and in this discussion, the decision made by Ruth is a perfect of example of Gods grace which inclines our soul to choose the better part and forsake the worldly things.
There is a lot we can learn from this bible verse, but I will end here for you to take time and meditate on this short piece and if God wills and permit we will continue this very discussion in our next search for scriptures.
“If we have more Elder women like Naomi, then we should have more younger women like Ruth” (Charles Spurgeon)
God bless you
Antwi Bosiakoh Isaac