039: Family Focus

March 26, 2010
Ruth 1-4

At the college/post college age Bible Study I attend we’ve been focusing on the issue of character among various Old Testament persons since the beginning of the New Year. The last couple of weeks we’ve been looking at Ruth.

I love the book of Ruth. I’ve always enjoyed it, because it features women prominently (when I was a little girl I preferred to read stories about girls in the Bible to those about boys – I could relate to the girls better, I suppose). I also love the romantic side of it, and the specific focus on Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. I listened to Mark Driscoll’s sermon series on the book of Ruth a little over a year ago and fell in love with it all over again – it really is an awesome foreshadowing of how Jesus loves his church and how he will ransom and redeem her. And Boaz, oh my! Although I doubt he was the handsomest, most dashing young thing, his CHARCTER is so attractive!

Another thing I appreciate about Ruth, though, is how family-focused it is. It also relies heavily on conversations – between Ruth and Naomi and between Ruth and Boaz namely. I love reading how these people communicated with each other.

Family is hugely important to me. My sisters are some of my closest friends, I live with my grandparents, and my parents are a fairly regular part of my weekly life. I respect how Ruth loved Naomi and served her. In fact, I don’t just respect it, I’m downright impressed by it! Ruth went out to work back-breaking work in the fields to provide for herself and Naomi, even though Naomi was a bitter old hag of a woman! That’s devotion.

As much as I love my family, I am not as devoted and selfless toward them as Ruth was to Naomi. I want to be able to have the reputation Ruth had – that of a virtuous woman – because of my family interaction. Ruth was known for how she came from a foreign land to be with and care for her mother-in-law. I can’t help asking myself, would I ever bond with a mother-in-law in that manner? Am I even bonded to my own parents that way? How hypocritical of me is it to say that I want a good relationship with a second family that God might provide, while not treating my own parents in that manner?

Lord, help me to be an honorable daughter. I want to be a woman of Your principles and values and I want that to be evident, pointing people toward you. Thank you for my family – show me how to better love and serve them, and give me the strength and endurance to do it!