Gospel Reflections #880: More than mere obligations

Ruth 1:16 Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from following 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."

After Ruth's husband died, her mother-in-law Naomi strongly urged her to return home. 

Humanly speaking, this was perfectly reasonable. It made sense that Ruth should not abandon her own people and her own God to follow Naomi. Moreover, in those days without welfare systems, it was obvious that staying with a widow would force her into extreme poverty, though perhaps not quite beggary.

Naomi gave this advice out of human concern for Ruth.

But Ruth saw it differently.

Ruth knew there was something more important than simply going with the flow of her surroundings and the people around her. That something was "loyalty." Loyalty means "devotion with love."

She knew there was a greater happiness than the ordinary contentment of following the crowd. Even if it meant an unnatural life, even if it meant a life filled with uncertainty, she knew there was something happier.

That was living within a personal relationship, within true love.

Through her connection with Naomi, Ruth had touched true love.

Ruth had decided to serve Naomi faithfully with love. One theme in the Book of Ruth is the Hebrew word "hesed," meaning "a resolve born of grace."

It is a desire to serve beyond mere obligation.

It is not emotional love.

Of course, emotions exist.

But it is about continuing to love without abandoning, even when it means loss for oneself, even when it becomes disadvantageous.

Ruth encountered the true love she had been seeking, desired to hold onto it, and this manifested in her actions and words.

Let us also touch God's true love today and take a step to respond to that love.

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.