My Bible-reading crew (me, my cousin Mark, and his wife) started a new book today. We began reading the book of Ruth. This is a short little book packed with nuggets of wisdom. Today's reading was chapter one.
What stood out to me the most in this chapter was the loyalty displayed by Ruth. You see, Naomi and her husband, Elimelech, had two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. The family moved from Bethlehem to Moab during a time of great famine.
While there, the two sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. While in Moab, all three men died, and Naomi was left alone with her two daughters-in-law. Naomi decided to return to Judah. Before leaving, she sent her daughters-in-law home to be with their Moabite families.
Orpah left, but Ruth pledged herself to never leave Naomi's side.
But 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 ESV)
This is loyalty born of love. I feel like today we don't see this type of loyalty much anymore. I practice this kind of loyalty with my family. Even though my family is not traditional, I feel a strong loyalty toward those I live with.
It is hard for some people to understand what this kind of loyalty means or entails. It's not always easy, but it is worth every bit of effort I put in. It takes a lot of self-sacrifice, the ability to listen, and the willingness to put others before yourself.
I believe this is the kind of loyalty we are to display as Christians. If you look at the examples that Christ Himself gave, you can see this type of loyalty. He even says:
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13 ESV)
Loyalty born of love. Do you have anyone in your life who is that loyal to you? Are you that loyal to anyone? I'd love to hear your thoughts on loyalty. Do you think we could use more in today's society?
—Daniel