Some troubling verses pop in today’s reading. We all know people who have been close to us in the body of Christ and then drifted away for one reason or another. Perhaps there was a relationship meltdown, or difficulty with unanswered questions, or feeling the expectations of the church were too limiting. The reality is we have a choice of whether we focus on growing closer to God or just coast along. Those who coast will certainly drift. The author knew this, and we’ve seen it too. It is merely good practice to be warned of the consequences or at least the probabilities of that choice.
The writer paints a pretty drastic and tragic picture here for his audience. Who would want to be locked out the kingdom of God with no possibility of being redeemed? Those who scoff wouldn’t care at first, but when enlightenment returned, if ever, what then? The reality is that more times than not, people don’t return. There is no desire. Continue reading “Hebrews 6:1-12 – Don’t Go There”
How long have you been a Christian, that is a Christ follower who believes and trusts in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Maybe you always remember being a Christian, maybe you’re just beginning to experience Jesus’ life-saving grace. We are all walking along in our faith journey at different points with experiences to share. We are growing up in our faith daily by spending time with God, reading his word, seeking his will for our life.
What a happy ending, and it was just as God had intended. God used a woman who otherwise would have been off the radar for the Hebrew culture. Ruth was a Moabite who had married a man from the area of Bethlehem. But he had died before leaving an heir for his property. Ruth has shown her bravery in moving to a foreign land and devotion to her dead husband’s mother. Not everyone would do that. Would you leave everything familiar behind?
Boaz was true to his word and put himself in the place where he was likely to find the “first” redeemer. That is something I would do, too. If I wanted to meet up with someone, I would think about where they would go and then go there. Like groups on Facebook. There are so many cool ways to meet people these days, even people we don’t yet know. We just know where we want to hang out and go there to see who else we might find.
Now we wait. Ruth has had her encounter with her prospective redeemer. He has sent her on her way with a good share of barley to keep her and Naomi well satisfied. Do you think Naomi stayed up waiting for Ruth to come home like an expectant parent waiting for a child to return from a date or the prom, or some other big event?
