Matthew 1:5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse
I love listening to other peoples testimonies; how they came to know Christ as their personal Savior. Many of them will tell me how they were saved at an early age, maybe during a Sunday school class, and cannot remember a time when they were not in church. In some ways it is hard not to be jealous of these people. What about those who were saved later in life as a late teen or adult? A life of sin is evident in the scars that they carry as they try to move past the life they lived in the flesh and begin to walk in the newness of life in Christ. Have you ever felt this way? Whether you were saved early or late in life we all struggle, we all have scars, we all need a fresh look at what it means to be redeemed! Enter Ruth…
The daughter of the Moabites, a people began by an incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughters (Genesis 19:36-37). They were an idolatrous people who were a thorn in the side of the children of Israel and even excluded from worshipping in the temple of God (Deuteronomy 23:3-6). Ruth was a Moabite who became the wife of the son of Elimelech and Naomi and traveled back to Israel with her Mother-in-Law after the death of all of their husbands, perhaps knowing that she would live out her days ostracized from normal society. But God had a different plan.
God led her to the field of Boaz to pick up the scraps of what the field hands left behind. Boaz just happened to be a near kinsman of Ruth’s late husband and had the opportunity to show God’s Love and Mercy to these ladies through becoming their “Kinsmen Redeemer” by marrying Ruth. A women, born into a despised people, widowed by the tragedies of life, living as an outsider among the people of God…Redeemed! And more than this…was the great grandmother of the King of Israel, David. Redeemed with a purpose – to be a part of the road that led to Bethlehem.
Redeemed with a purpose…have you ever though of that? Whether you were saved at the age of 2 or 92. Whether you carry the scars of a lifetime of sin of one born as an outsider from the church or have grown up in church since the day your were born. If you have asked Christ to save you, to Redeem you, then you have a purpose: To be used to tell the world of your great Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus Christ! Just as God can use someone like a Moabite widow in His great Plan of Salvation, He can use us, scars and all, to proclaim this Good News!
Today as we ReFocus our hearts and minds on Christ let us praise God for our Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus, who paid the price so that you and I could be brought into the family of God! Praise Him for His salvation and Proclaim the Good News to the World! That is being Redeemed With A Purpose!!
