Words Of Encouragement For Your Day ( Monday 04/02/2012)

Judged For Not What You Have But Who You Are

Ruth 1:1-18 Amplified

 ¹IN THE days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem of Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, his wife, and his two sons. ²The man's name was Elimelech and his wife's name was Naomi and his two sons were named Mahlon [invalid] and Chilion [pining]; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. They went to the country of Moab and continued there. ³But Elimelech, who Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴And they took wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They dwelt there about ten years; ⁵And Mahlon and Chilion died also, both of them, so the woman was bereft of her two sons and her husband. ⁶Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in Moab how the Lord had visited His people in giving them food. ⁷So she left the place where she was, her two daughters-in-law with her, and they started on the way back to Judah. ⁸But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to her mother's house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. ⁹The Lord grant that you may find a home and rest, each in the house of her husband! Then she kissed them and they wept aloud. ¹⁰And they said to her, No, we will return with you to your people. ¹¹But Naomi said, Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that may become your husbands? ¹²Turn back, my daughters, go; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband tonight and should bear sons,¹³Would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters; it is far more bitter for me than for you that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me. ¹⁴Then they wept aloud again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law [good-bye], but Ruth clung to her. ¹⁵And Naomi said, See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law. ¹⁶And Ruth said, Urge me not to leave you or to 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.¹⁷Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you.¹⁸When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said no more.

            A few weeks ago, I had one of those rare moments that I could sit still and watch a movie.  As I begin to scroll through the channels, my thought was, “wow, really one of the few times I have a moment there is nothing on television.”  Just when I was about to give up I came across one of my favorite movies, “The Color Purple.”  This moment I would enjoy.  As I settled into watching the movie, it was coming upon the portion of the movie when Celie was getting ready to leave Mister, and the scene where Mister follows Celie out to the car where she intends to leave with Sug Avery.  Mister tries to intimidate her with words by asking how is she gonna make it because she is black, skinny and ugly. But Celie does not allow what he sees externally and what he places value or devalues about her become a factor, because she replies, I may be black, skinny and ugly but I am here.” What a moment.

            Last week as I thought of my favorite book in the Bible, the book of Ruth, I thought of the fact that Ruth could have chosen to leave what so many saw was a worthless woman that had been cursed with loss and brokeness.  To the average person Naomi looked like a lonely, bitter widow that had nothing, and no one, no home and nothing really to look forward to, BUT that was not what Ruth saw.  Ruth saw the Spirit of God that rested on her. She saw the promise of hope and the promise of a God that in even in moments of despair is a presence and the assurance that there was a heritage that rested with Naomi.  We are so reliant upon our senses, our emotions and what we can see, we miss so much, to include God, whether He is present in a situation or if He is resting on a person, it we cannot see it with our natural eyes or people do not look blessed we assume the blessings of the Lord do not follow them or are not resting upon them. We do as Orpah and we turn from people or we evaluate situations by what we think we know and can see, and we are missing our destiny track and the blessings of God because of it.  Had Ruth looked at all she understand and was able to rationalize she would have missed her blessing, missed her Boaz and missed the heritage that God wanted to give to her through her submission and association.

          Our Bishop did a series on the system and he pointed out that our citizenship is kingdom citizenship.  So why do we focus so much on what is around us and how we feel instead of the Spirit of God and what lays beyond the surface? The Bible encourages us in Romans 8:1-5, “¹THEREFORE, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.²For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.³For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],⁴So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].⁵For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.”  Living focused on Christ yields blessings, protection and destiny that being focused on flesh and blood and what it seems like, looks like and feels like will not yield us!  Look to God and not what people have or don’t have, it’s about Jesus, not about us!