You are more than the sum of your past mistakes

1. You’re alive.

2. You have a roof over your head, food to eat and clothes to wear.

3. You have access to basic education, and are able to read and write.

4. You have choices, and the freedom to make your own decisions (about what to eat, what to wear, where to live, the kind of career you would like to pursue etc.)

5. You are not being persecuted for your beliefs, and you live in a country that respects your human rights.

6. You have faced and overcome some huge obstacles.

7. You have experienced the warmth and the love of friends.

8. There are people in your life who miss you, and look forward to seeing you again.

9. You can enjoy gorgeous sunrises and sunsets.

– “I’m always gonna love you. – I’m always gonna love you, too.“

Nikita Gill,

Ruth : Day 4

Text: Ruth 2:4-17, Deuteronomy 28:8-9, Psalm 36:7-9

I’m grinning as I sit in the coffee shop typing this. Thankfully, there’s no one at the table facing mine.

I can’t help it. This story is why I can’t get enough of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because do you know who is declared royalty in the eyes of God? A poor, Moabite widow gleaning barley. I can’t even stand it, I love this story so much.

Let me back up and explain. Here we have our dear Ruth, busting her tail in the barley fields in an honest effort to keep herself and her mother-in-law alive. She “happened” into the field of Boaz. And he “happened” to take notice of her. And (spoiler alert) all these little happenings will end up with Ruth and Boaz at the marriage altar one day, a beautiful ending to an abrupt and terrible life twist.

The thing is, none of this was happenstance. The hand of a gracious God led Naomi back to Bethlehem and led Ruth to go with her. The hand of a gracious God led Ruth to Boaz’s fields that first day and turned Boaz’s heart toward the hard-working widow from a foreign land. What appeared as coincidence was God’s hand continually at work.

In the same upside-down way of the gospel, Ruth’s simple and consistent acts of faithfulness have Kingdom-size ramifications.

Ruth was not some long-time, super-religious believer who earned herself a spot in God’s capital-S Story (and even in the lineage of Christ!). She was just a young woman doing hard things because she believed it was what she was called to do. We don’t hear this in her words, but we see it in her actions. Her faithfulness is not bright and shiny; her work is not award-winning or perfectly planned. She was simply following God’s lead, taking the next right step.

Like Ruth, we cannot see the whole of our story, let alone His Story. We aren’t meant to. But we can follow God’s lead, knowing that our yeses to Him make a Kingdom-size difference, even when no one sees.

Are you sitting in a quiet apartment this morning, wondering if your next steps matter? Are you driving to an office where you’ll work tirelessly without thanks or appreciation, just like yesterday? Are you settling in for another day at home, serving little hearts in a million unnoticed ways?

Hear these words from Boaz to Ruth as my prayer over you today:

“May the Lord reward you for what you have done, and may you receive a full reward from the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.” - Ruth 2:12

And as you do the work set before you, know this: Your small and steady acts of faithfulness are being used in big and beautiful ways in the kingdom of God.