Your Commitment Check

“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.Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.” – Ruth 1:16-18

 This scripture is one of the most beloved and frequently quoted in the Bible, and no wonder, because it packs a load of love and care that only trails that of our Lord Himself. 

Naomi, the old widow, who lived with her two widowed daughters-in-law, decides to travel back home to Bethlehem after news of God’s visitation reaches her. The two women in her life, Orpah and Ruth, choose to travel back to Bethlehem with her. But willingness is not always a conclusive decision. 

It hangs on the conditions down the road that only true love, godly determination, and a surrendered will can overcome. True love because it does not depend on one’s interest but that of another (Phil. 2:3-4), a godly determination because it is purely for God’s glory (1 Cor. 10:31), and a surrendered will because it is no more my will but that of the Lord that motivates me. (Lk. 22:42).

Age does not always exhibit wisdom, but loving kindness can reveal lots of it. Naomi knows the two in-laws are young and have their life ahead of them. She knows, also from experience, how emigration could disappoint in the end, so she tests the will and resolves of the two ladies (Ruth 1:8-18). Orpah turns back and goes home, but Ruth is resilient. The response of Ruth has warmed the hearts of many over the years – for Christians and unbelievers. It is a test we want to take today as we join hands with the Lord to rebuild for a new experience in Christ. 

So,  

1. What is your commitment level to Jesus? Are you committed to going all the way with Him?
2. Are you committed to joining any committee He asks you to join and staying wherever He asks you to stay? If so, do you resolve to do whatever He asks you and not find excuses, comforting yourself with the thought that “God understands”?
3. Have you truly come out of your country, people, family, and friends for the sake of Christ? (Gen. 12:1; Luke 14:26). Have you embraced your new family, the Church, with all her imperfections? If so, how involved, and functional are you in her life? (Eph.4:12-13; 2Cor. 8, 9; Matt. 28: 18-20)
4. Just as Orpah turned back when confronted with a reality check of her chances with Naomi in Judah, many people have turned back from Jesus when the going got tough, and some of His demands on their lives became too much for them (John 6:60, 66). Are you sure your commitment to Christ in this rebuilding project is genuine and that nothing can separate you from it (67-69)?
5. Are you so determined to follow Jesus and to obey Him so completely that Satan will lose the ability and pleasure of trying to entice you away from Him? (Ruth 1:18; Job 1:1-11). How secure are you in Christ? (John 10:27-29; Rom. 8:31-39)

Congratulations, if you’re a Ruth and not Orpah, for that is the kind of commitment that wins with God. Amen!