By Pastor Alex Ruelo
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The book of Ruth tells us a great love story, but this is not an ordinary story of a boy falling in love with a girl—it is much more than that.
The story begins with Naomi living for a while in the land of Moab and soon after being widowed to his husband. She was left with her two sons who were both married Moabite women—named Orpah and Ruth. Now, years after, Naomi’s sons died too leaving Naomi with her two daughters-in-law. Orpah and Ruth were told by Naomi to just go back home to their mothers for there’s nothing Naomi could offer to them anymore. But Ruth insisted on going anywhere Naomi would go, she refused to leave her no matter what would happen.
Ruth remained with Naomi and head back to Bethlehem where a relative from her husband’s side named Boaz resides. Now Ruth with her eagerness to find food for the both of them went to the fields and pick up leftover grains. There she met Boaz who turned out to be the owner of the field she was getting leftover grains at. Right then and there, Boaz knew that something from the Lord is about to happen for both of them. Boaz never took for granted the chances that he got to jump on to Naomi. He pursued Naomi in the right ways and in God’s will. Years after, they got married, had a son that they named Obed, who became the father of Jesse, the father of David and from their lineage is where Jesus came from.
In our lives, we may see our losses as life-long problems, but we must know that these are all temporary. Nothing is permanent when we remain in God. We need to see that in our faithfulness God works, He rewards the faithfulness we offer unto Him with His unending faithfulness to us. With our good deeds and unselfish acts, we may not see our legacy after but this is not important. What’s important is that we do what is right in the eyes of the Lord and what He can see through with our deeds. Just like Ruth who never knew that in her lineage, the great redeemer will be born, she never knew what legacy her love for her mother-in-law may result but it turns out to be the greatest legacy anyone can have—and that is to be one of the ancestors of the King Jesus.