It's About Commitment

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 (NIV)

Elimelech moves his wife Naomi, and his two sons from Bethlehem, Judah to go live in the country of Moab because there is a famine in his hometown. While in Moab, Naomi's husband dies. Her sons marry Moabite women and are in the area for ten years before they die, leaving Naomi with her two daughter-in -laws, Orpah and Ruth. Namoi decides it's time to go back to her homeland and urges her daughters-in-laws to go back to their families. Orpah and Ruth insist on returning with Naomi, but she points out that she has no sons to give them and that going back to their families is the best thing for them. Orpah does as she is told, but Ruth is stubborn and say's wherever you go, I will go, where you stay, I will stay, your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Ruth does not know what kind of future she will have, but she is committed to Naomi and her God and goes to Bethlehem.

Romans 11:17 says, "But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree." Like Ruth, us gentiles, were grafted into the tree of life when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and savior. And just like Ruth, when times get rough, we need to stay committed. Jesus promised that by following him, we would face trials and persecutions. Like Ruth, we do not know what our future will hold, but we know that He will get us through our trials and that we have the ultimate reward of life in heaven with God.

Choose to be committed like Ruth. Don't slip back into the world, be honest in preaching the Gospel, be open to returning to the Lord, and count the cost of following Jesus. We will all go through trials, and we need to stay committed to the One who saved us, Jesus Christ.