So, in all honesty, I must say that the idea for my blog today came from a devotional I am reading called JESUS DAY BY DAY by Sharon Kaselonis, published by Mutnomah in 2019. In this devotional, the author presented the fact that Ruth was a Gentile. That got me to thinking because I always just read over the words (skimmed, overlooked) that told me she was a Moabite and didn’t consider the fact that she was a Gentile. Just like me!

The author also pointed out that she was loved by a Jewish man named Boaz who showed her kindness and made sure that she was fed. All of this truth led me to think about that I have also been wooed by a Jewish man (Jesus) and He makes sure I am fed daily, not only physically but spiritually through His Word.

The final revelation isn’t one that will surprise you. Boaz was called Ruth’s kinsman and she married him. We are the bride of Christ, adopted into His family by His sacrifice so He is our kinsman and we will all participate in the marriage supper of the Lamb because we are the bride.

Okay, so maybe no surprises or big reveals for you, but I have always loved the story of Ruth. It’s like having a clean romance story in the Bible and it has a happily ever after. The greatest story ever told is part of Ruth’s story because she and Boaz were the great-grandparents of King David, in the lineage of Jesus. So, to realize that I am like Ruth…that is a blessing not to be taken lightly!

“Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Boaz was a relative of Naomi who had returned home after her husband and sons died. Coincidence? No, a God-incidence, or as the television movie says, it’s a “Godwink.”

God had everything figured out and planned for Ruth, a Gentile woman in a strange land, just as He has good plans for each of us.

Jesus came for the purpose of bringing the Jewish people back to God, but since God is not a respecter of people just because of their lineage, He included us, the Gentiles, in His great plan of salvation. We were grafted into the family, adopted and accepted just as if we were originally born into the family. That, my dear friends, is grace.

We are not better than the Jewish people who rejected Christ. Rather, we should be thankful, knowing that God still calls the Israelites His chosen people and continues to work in their hearts to draw them to Him. Meanwhile, we need to be grateful that we were called and chosen to be a part of the family, grafted in and accepted as His children.

The Gospel message is one of hope, the same message that Boaz gave to Ruth when he provided grain for her and then redeemed her and married her. He brought her into his family, just as Jesus brings us into the family of God and welcomes us wholeheartedly and lovingly. Thus, as I began, I will end. We are all like Ruth.