Daily Reading for Friday, Feb. 29: Community

“But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or turn back 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.’” Ruth 1:16

Ruth was married to an Israelite who, along with his father, mother, and other brother, had gone to Moab to find relief from a famine that had taken place in the land of Israel. Ruth was a Moabite—not an Israelite. She didn’t have the promises of God that the Israelites had. In fact, she didn’t even know the God of the Israelites. Yet, somehow, in her interactions with this family of the chosen people of promise, she found herself so drawn to Naomi (her mother-in-law), that even when Ruth’s husband was dead, and they seemed to be in a hopeless situation, Ruth was determined to forsake her old way of life, her identity, even her own family to follow Naomi and to take Naomi’s God as her own.
What compelled Ruth to take such a drastic step? Her relationship with this family did. There was something in them that the gods of Moab could never offer Ruth. There was something in them that drew her. Day after day, year after year, Ruth interacted with this family—learning their traditions, experiencing their lives, being impacted by their example. And when the time of decision came for Ruth, she decided (like Mary did when she sat at Jesus’ feet) to take the better part. She chose to follow Naomi, and to serve the God of Israel.
This is our goal of community building with those outside the family of faith. We want them to experience Jesus and to see the difference He makes in our lives. We want them to be drawn by the Holy Spirit and our example of Christ-likeness so that when the day of decision comes for those in our “sphere of influence” they will choose the better part. And then, we can welcome them into the greatest community of all—the community of faith.