The Joy of Glory

Ruth 1:15-18 (click here to read the entire passage)
…Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” (Ruth 1:16-17)

Reflection
“Where you die I will die.”

Well that’s intense.

These are the words Ruth said to her mother-in-law Naomi after Ruth’s husband had died. She didn’t have to say this. In fact, it would have been to her social advantage to depart from Naomi… to go back home… to remarry. Yet, she said she would stay… always. Why?

The simplest answer is that she loved Naomi more than she loved herself. The only future that Ruth wanted was the one that included Naomi, no matter how bleak that looked to the rest of the world.

If going with Naomi meant poverty, then Ruth was willing to embrace poverty. If going with Naomi meant hunger, then Ruth was willing to go hungry. If going with Naomi meant death… then Ruth was willing to look death in the face and say, “Where you die I will die.”

Is there anyone or anything in our lives about which we are willing to say these same words?

Is there anyone or anything about which we are this intense?

As Christians, we are all ready to shout the Sunday School answer, “Yes! Jesus!” But is it true? We can know if it is true… all we have to do is put ourselves in Ruth’s shoes.

Instead of Naomi, we find ourselves standing there with Jesus. What if going with him means poverty? Will we embrace poverty? What if going with him means hunger? Will we go hungry? What if going with him means death? Will we look death in the face and call it what the apostle Paul does in Philippians 1:21… “Gain!”

You see, the amazing truth of the gospel is tied up in that one word, “gain!” Because, no matter if I lose everything, if I get Jesus I still gain! There is no greater treasure than him!

So, analogous to Ruth with Naomi… the only future I want is the one that includes Jesus! I don’t care if that takes me down the bleakest looking path in the eyes of this world… even if it takes me to death!

We are a people who call death gain… and yes, that’s intense, but that’s because Jesus is intensely worth more than life itself!

Ruth loved Naomi more than her own life… may we love Jesus with even more intensity!

 
*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

Today’s devotional is authored by SVCC intern Allison Davis

Joshua 24:16-18
Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods, for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. And the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”

Reflection
Have you ever made a promise you knew you couldn’t keep? When I was in school, friends would share the latest gossip with me, saying, “Don’t tell anyone, but…”

I promised to keep a secret knowing full well I would run home and tell my mom, my confidant and closest friend, everything I was told. I made a promise I couldn’t keep.

I feel that is Israel’s situation in today’s reading. They are making a promise that is impossible to keep: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods.” If you know the history of Israel in the Old Testament, you know that they end up serving other gods! Quite often! Even Israel’s leaders, their kings, forsake the God that brought their people out of Egypt and worship foreign gods.

But before we point the finger at Israel, before we roll our eyes at their foolish optimism and shame them for their unfaithfulness to their promise…do we not do the same thing?

Our gods look a little different in the 21^st century. We may not literally bow down to idols made of gold or bronze, but we metaphorically “bow down” to our idols of money, power, and acceptance. We forsake the Lord and serve our own schedules and our own desires. We crave success and pleasure more than we crave holiness. Far be it from us that we should worship something else…but we do.

You may be saying, “well, Allison, you’re laying it on a little thick today. Is there any hope here for us?”

Yes. Of course there is hope. There is hope because “if we are faithless, he remains faithful –for he cannot deny himself” (2 Tim 2:13). In spite of Israel’s continued failure, past and future, God rescued them from slavery. He drove out the Canaanites so they would receive the promised land. He ultimately sent his Son into the world to save humanity from their sins. God in Christ is eager to forgive us when we come to him with repentant hearts.

God’s faithfulness in the past should give us the courage to press on into the future. You and I will mess up, but our God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from our unrighteousness. Is the enemy hounding you with shame over something you’ve already confessed to God and turned from? Are you believing the lie that you are too broken, too much of a failure for the Lord to love you? Remember today that God has preserved you in all the ways that you’ve gone. He’s not done with you. In light of his faithfulness to us, let us forsake those other “gods” that clamor for our attention. In the power of the Holy Spirit, who makes obedience possible, let us serve the Lord, for he is our God.

 
*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

A Corporate Call to Press On Toward Joy
Philippians 3:12-16 (click here to read the entire passage)
On Sundays during Lent, there will not be an email devotional because a sermon will actually be preached on the passage for that day. Today’s sermon will be posted soon, and you will be able to find it on iTunes by searching for “Shades Valley Community Church” or simply click here.

*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.