Ruth 1:16-17 (NIVUK)
16 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. 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.’
Having lost her husband and her sons, Naomi decides to return home to Israel, and tells her daughters-in-law to leave her and find new husbands. Orpah goes, but Ruth in an amazing display of love responds by insisting that she will stay with Naomi in today’s passage. What can we learn from her example of friendship in our life of mission? Are we willing to walk with those around us like she did?
Father, your Son did just that, entered our lives and walked with us. Help us by your Spirit to follow his example and share your love by walking with others like him.
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