Most of our disappointments in the pursuit of love come from the quest itself.
We elevate love, marriage, bff’s to believing the perfect mate or perfect friend will satisfy us, even complete us. But our mates and friends actually prove to be imperfect, even selfish!!
And then the turbulent wave crashes our hopes, and our feelings begin the cycle again of dictating our response to how people hurt and fail us. Even as parents, we want a pain-free world for our children and so we build child-centered homes, too often dictated by their feelings and emotions, or our over-protectionism where God is not at the center, but they are. But love and relationships were never meant to be the center, Love is not god. Only God is Love.
God is not optional, or even secondary, he is all-consuming, the absolute call to the center of all things.
Ruth’s artful expression of commitment again foreshadows the call of Jesus to forsake all, even family ties, for the sake of the kingdom. His call is above all others as the truth, way and life, and his Hesed love, like Ruth’s, is ours to imitate.
Additional Resources:
Thread Episode on Ruth.
How does the story of a Moabite widow illuminate the depth of God’s story in the Bible? Join us as we embark on a profound exploration of the book of Ruth with our special guest, Sherie Gayle, a PhD candidate in theology and religious studies at Georgetown University. Sherie enriches our discussion with her academic insights, emphasizing the compelling roles and relationships of the women in Ruth. We scrutinize how the narrative challenges traditional gender roles and the significance of Ruth, an outsider, being the namesake of one of the Bible’s books. This episode brings the humanity of the characters to the forefront and explores how their experiences deepen our understanding of faith and God’s plan.