Honoring the Loyal

March 18, 2017

Honoring the Loyal

Loyalty is a dying art. It’s just not human nature to lay down our concern for ourselves and care for others’ needs and our culture constantly feeds our self-centeredness. This is why I love the story of Ruth – this young foreigner whose husband passed away and seems to have a bleak future. In spite of this, Ruth chooses to be loyal to her mother-in-law Naomi in a radical, unpopular way.

In the opening scene of the book, Naomi realizes her life is going to be hard and tries to persuade her two daughters-in-law to seek a brighter future. The first one leaves, but Ruth doesn’t give in that easily. Naomi tries again to knock some sense into Ruth. Nevertheless, Ruth replies…

“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. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” Ruth 1:16 NIV

That is a kind of loyalty that reflects the heart of God with each of us. Despite the hard roads we sometimes travel and the fact that we’re often pretty unlovable, God continue to love us in a radical way. The video from the guys at The Bible Project below captures exactly why this story is in the Bible, showcasing God’s heart of loyalty and honoring the loyalty of Ruth and Boaz.

The Apostle Paul’s statement in Romans 8 reminds me a lot of what Ruth had to say to Naomi…

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 NIV

I find it so interesting that this kind of radical loyalty is also shown by the Lord Jesus, especially since Ruth was Jesus’ great grandmother from about 30 generations before! The reality is this… as followers of Christ we’re often called to set aside our personal feelings and choose to be loyal where God has called us. It may not be easy, but it will be blessed.

Who has been loyal to you? I’d encourage you to call them and thank them today for being a great friend. More importantly, who is God asking you to be loyal to? Let’s take up the mantle of our spiritual inheritance as the family of God and show an unshakeable loyalty like Ruth.

– Pastor Ryan

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