Ruth’s Loyalty
14 And they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15 Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 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. 17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.” 18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she [e]said no more to her.
19 So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. And when they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was stirred because of them, and [f]the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 She said to them, “Do not call me [g]Naomi; call me [h]Mara, for [i]the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has witnessed against me and [j]the Almighty has afflicted me?”
22 So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
It makes one wonder, what kind of woman Naomi was? What was it that made Ruth so committed to following her mother-in-law to a foreign land. What made her so sure that Naomi’s people and Naomi’s God were worthy of her devotion?
Whatever it might have been, most folks have someone that looks up to them. Someone who wants to follow in your footsteps. It might be your children, might be someone else’s, nephews/nieces, friends, or other family.
Whoever it is, live a life worthy of being imitated. Even if you don’t know that someone is watching your life, it is highly likely that someone IS watching. Keep your steps inline with God, so that you can say as Paul did, “follow me as I follow Christ.”