Ruth's Reckless Abandonment

I'm starting to find more similarities to Ruth than I thought I'd ever have. Today's reading was based on Ruth's reckless abandonment. After willingly breaking her alabaster box and following the Lord wherever He led her (Ruth 1:16), Ruth encountered new friends, new surroundings, and new faith.

After telling God "your people shall be my people" (Ruth 1:16), Ruth realized that she had to leave her own people, the Moabites. God describes the Moabites as a washbasin in Psalm 60:8, being one that you rinse dirt off of. Through each day it becomes more cleaer that there are still "Moabites" today. There are still those that will try to bring you down and hinder your spiritual growth. However, there are also still those that will be there to encourage your growth. You just have to realize that and decide what is more important to you. Do you stay with the people that you think are your friends but in reality are pulling you further away from Christ, or do you give yourself over to God completely knowing that he will provide the friendships that you need through your time of spiritual growth?

"He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." (Proverbs 13:20)

When you decide to walk with the wise, I think that it becomes clear who your true friends really are. I've lost a lot of friends over the past few months. I didn't know how to handle it at first. But I am now thankful to God for that because I now realize who my true friends really are, and I'm thankful for the new friends that God has placed in my life today.

Just as "Ruth had to relocate in order to be fed spiritually", I as well have had to take part in new surroundings. This is not necessarily by choice, but my schooling has moved me. It has given me some perspective on realizing that I had to take myself away from some of the past friendships that I did have in order to stay in a state of spiritual growth. I'm not saying that everyone in my past was hindering me, but there are some that just never understood what I was going through. That being because we were on different spiritual levels. It felt at times that as I would try to help their growth as well as mine, I would end up being pulled down more by them rather than me pulling them up.

I feel like with the world today, people try to do what they think is good, but not necessarily what is right. A. W. Tozer explains this, "A whole new generation of Christians has come up believing that it is possible to 'accept' Christ without forsaking the world." I feel that with a lot of young people today, they want that relationship with Christ, but they also want what the world has to offer. It's a tough place to be in, and it's one that you have to decide for yourself. I've realized that I can't make that decision for someone. No matter how hard I try.

Finally, Ruth experienced new faith. In today's world there is a wide variety of religions and churches to choose from. Is your religious experience one that offers a vital, growing relationship with Jesus Christ, or do you have one like that mentioned in Isaiah? "Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught." (Isaiah 29:13b) Sometimes we have to be honest with ourselves and ask ourselves the hard questions. Am I experiencing spiritual growth with the people that I surround myself with? Are these people providing me with spiritual growth or are they hindering me?

Sometimes it's hard to figure out the answers to these questions. Therefore, I ask you to pray. Pray that God would show you the relationships that He has provided you with to help you grow. Ask Him to show you who your true friends really are. Like I said before, I lost a lot of people over the past few months whom I thought were my true friends, but when I began to stick up for something that I believed in based on my morals and my spiritual growth, it became clear who my true friends really were.