15 March | EVERYONE
«So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and when he went in to her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.» Ruth 4:13
She worked from morning until evening gathering the wheat that was left over from the already mowed fields of the Bethlehem countryside. Her life was repetitive and monotonous. She was trying just to survive until one day Boaz, the owner of the land, saw her and said to her: “‘You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close […] And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.’ So, she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, ‘Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?’” (Ruth 2:8-10).
The expression “I have found favor in your eyes” denotes the essence of salvation. What would become of us if one day we had not found favor in God’s eyes? We were strangers and pilgrims, like Ruth the Moabite, we walked in the desert of this life seeking at least to survive, but Jesus, the “kinsman redeemer,” the spiritual Boaz, found us in our solitude, loved us first, and transformed us into citizens of his kingdom. That is why Paul says: “[You] who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Pet. 2:10).
Boaz loved Ruth and made her his wife. From that love, came Obed was born, father of Jesse, father of David, from whose root came the Lord Jesus Christ, our “kinsman redeemer.” Boaz and Ruth’s love really impacted human history. God also desires, through His grace, to use you to write a love story and thus make an impact on other people, the church, and the world.
Take Action
Think back to a love story that happened in your family and meditate on how Jesus acted in it with his grace.