Today's Reading:
Ruth 1:1-4:22
Romans 3:9-31
Psalm 74:10-17
Click on Text Link to Read Online
Focus Verses: Ruth 2:10-12
10 At
this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, "Why
have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?" 11 Boaz
replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your
mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father
and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not
know before. 12 May
the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded
by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take
refuge."
Insight:
In
the Law of Moses, one of the provisions made for the poor was for
landowners to leave grain unharvested along the edges and corners of
their fields. If while harvesting they dropped some of the grain, they
were to leave it there and just move on. This seeming inefficiency was
actually a provision to those who had nothing. People who were suffering
loss and poverty could go out and work to harvest what these
God-honoring landowners had left in the fields.
Ruth
was very thankful to Boaz for allowing her to glean in his fields. Boaz
was a righteous man who followed both the spirit and the letter of the
Mosaic Law. He described his kindness to her as something God was doing
for her. He blessed her for the selfless and righteous care she had
given her mother-in-law, and explained that as she worked in his field,
she was actually being "rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel" and
finding "refuge under His wings."
Response and Action:
Like
Boaz, I want my attitude, conduct, and kindness to be the result of my
reverence and love for God. I want to be an instrument of God's grace
and mercy to those who are in need. If I truly know, love, and worship
God, my life should be an extension of his care and goodness to the
world around me. If people ask me why I am being good to them, I should
be sure to give God glory and explain my actions as a blessing from God.
O
God, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me
sow love; where there is injury pardon; where there is discord, unity;
where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there
is darkness, light. I have come to you thirsty, and you have satisfied
me with your living water. May streams of living water flow out of me as
a blessing to those around me who thirst for your care, your truth, and
your grace. Through Christ, I pray. Amen.
Spiritual Formation Verses: 1 John 3:17-18
17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
Resources:
Neither Poverty Nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions
by Craig Blomberg
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