This week I chose to study the book of Ruth and I got something from it today, in the first chapter, that I never got before a
- 11-13"Go back, my dear daughters. Why would you come with me? Do you suppose I still have sons in my womb who can become your future husbands? Go back, dear daughters—on your way, please! I'm too old to get a husband. Why, even if I said, 'There's still hope!' and this very night got a man and had sons, can you imagine being satisfied to wait until they were grown? Would you wait that long to get married again? No, dear daughters; this is a bitter pill for me to swallow—more bitter for me than for you. God has dealt me a hard blow."
Just to give you a little background. A famine hit Naomi's hood so the hubby decided to move.
Naomi gave birth to 2 kids then her husband died. Her kids married a couple of women (Ruth and Orpah) then
her sons died! So Naomi heard that it was cool to return home so she packed up and
high-tailed it outta there, taking her daughters-in-law with her.
So huge yet simple lesson I got to day was that unconditional l♥ve applies to me too!
Naomi lists all these things she can't provide for the girls and how hopeless and forbearing living with her would be; because of that she wants them to go back home. She put conditions on her relationship with with them. She basically said, I have nothing to ♥ffer you, why would you want to waste your time with me. Naomi gave the impression that she didn't deserve to be l♥ved unconditionally (probably because of how her life had gone so far).... Those girls didn't ask Naomi for anything, they just wanted to share life with her.
I commit the same blunder. Not to long ago, a friend asked , "Why don't you hang out more often? You're always welcomed." And I basically told him that I didn't have anything to ♥ffer. Which is honestly how I feel. Specifically, I said, "I just go over and sit there." But truthfully, that should be enough.
So why do I feel like I need to "have something to ♥ffer"
to be important to a person or situation?
Probably because I should have something to ♥ffer, but a lot of times I overlook the important thing God calls for me to ♥ffer everyone I encounter. L♥ve. L♥ve is the only thing I need to have to ♥ffer.
- 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't l♥ve, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't l♥ve, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't l♥ve, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without l♥ve.
Someone should have told Naomi, “Girl if you birth the most handsome, talented, sons ever to be known without l♥ve, you will be nothing because . Naomi, you believe in God and you abide in God. ‘God is l♥ve, and the person who abides in l♥ve abides in God, and God in that person (1 John 4:16). L♥ve is in you, Naomi, and that’s all you need to have to ♥ffer.
I want to step out on a limb and say, just as I can’t don anything to deserve God’s l♥ve and His l♥ve is given to me anyway, I can’t do anything to deserver anyone elses’ l♥ve, it should be given to me anyway. Enough people in the world will tell me that what I have to ♥ffer is not good enough and that’s one bandwagon I don’t need to jump on, simply because it’s not the truth! I deserve unconditional l♥ve, and you do too!
