WHAT SHOULD LEAVE BEHIND?

     WHAT SHOULD YOU LEAVE BEHIND?

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”

Ruth 1:16

“We’re moving.” Two words sure to set in motion a flurry of activity. So many decisions to be made. What do we pack? What do we leave behind? How do we say goodbye to family and friends and all that is familiar? Moving is as difficult today as it was in the days of Ruth and Naomi.

Panting from exertion, the two women stopped to rest at the crest of the hill. The high plains of Moab stretched out behind; the road to Judah snaked through the hills ahead. Go home, Naomi urged, and Ruth considered. She could return home to her family and friends, to her culture, to her gods. But with love, Ruth replied, “Where you go I will go.”

Ruth’s decision reached far beyond compassion for her mother-in-law, though, for she added, “Your people will be my people and your God my God.” With these words, Ruth abandoned the gods of her ancestors and took refuge under the wings of the God of Israel (see Ruth 2:12). Now she would worship the one true God.

What must you abandon to worship the one true God? False beliefs and practices of the past? A relationship or an activity that does not honor God? Possessions that weigh heavy? A sin that blocks him from your sight? Or is God calling you to leave your home — or your comfort zone — to follow him to a new place?

Worshipping God involves sacrifice, but he “richly blesses all who call on him” (Romans 10:12). God honoured Ruth’s faith by blessing her new life in Judah and giving her a place in the lineage of Jesus (see Matthew 1:5). How has God blessed you since you put your faith in him?

PRAYER

Creator of heaven and earth, help me to leave behind …