Greetings Flag Branch members and friends and thanks for taking the time to join me, Pastor Jordan, for some Fine Points from Sunday’s service and message “Being Noticed, Being Chosen”.
The Book of Ruth tells the story of a small Jewish family consisting of a mother, father and two sons living in Israel after the time of Joshua but before the first king of Israel in a period of time called the Judges. This family left Israel to escape famine to the neighboring country of Moab. While there, the two sons met and married Moabite women. All the men died leaving the women alone and childless.
After the mother, Naomi, heard there was food once again in Israel, she decided to return and did her best to dissuade her daughter-in-laws from going to Israel with her. While one remained in Moab, the other, Ruth forsook all her ties to her native land, family and heritage to accept a new way of life, people and God to be by Naomi’s side until death.
To find food, Ruth asked Naomi for permission to glean the fields and Naomi agreed. While gleaning, she was noticed by the prominent Jewish owner of the field name Boaz who showed her kindness and attention and knew of her relationship with and sacrifice for Naomi.
After noticing her, Boaz chose Ruth among all the women in Israel he could have chosen and married her. They became the great grandparents of King David his throne of which Jesus now sits.
Salvation works in a similar matter. God notices something about His people and children, shows them kindness and grace and chooses them from among all the children of men.
Today, people are becoming more paganistic as they attempt to “bum-rush” heaven with every person who dies. For lots of people, heaven has become the place of all dead because that is where they want their dead to be.
The bible doesn’t teach this universalism. It teaches that heaven is the domain of God and it is God, not us, who decides who, if any, are admitted into heaven. It is God who first notices and then chooses who will become an heir to His kingdom and admitted into heaven.
God has demonstrated throughout the bible that it is He who chooses His children and people and we do not choose God. Among all the people whom God notices or sees, only a few of them are chosen. The question for us is why are the few chosen but most are not.
We can see and even understand some of the reasons why Boaz may have noticed Ruth finding grace in his eyes that led to him choosing her to be his wife. What is God noticing about His people and children that leads Him to choose them and not others. What does God notice about me and you that may lead Him to choose us? Another way of asking the question is what does God notice about us that may cause Him not to choose us.
In an effort to qualify more and more people for heaven, people are attempting to make God in our image by permitting whatever we deem non-disqualifying behavior, situations and conditions into heaven’s entrance. In other words, we are setting the rules and conditions for heaven admittance instead of the God of the bible who is also the Creator of Heaven and Earth.
The next time we hear someone say or are tempted ourselves to say where a person who died is or are doing, be it an unborn person, a child, the oldest, kindliest grandmother or grandfather and everyone in between, just remember the fate of the dead is the choice of God.
Not the God we make and define so we can put whoever we choose into heaven, but the Holy One who is described in the bible who notices everything we do and say and chooses a few among humanity to share the blessings of heaven with according to His will and criteria He has established which we can’t change or alter though we are trying.
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Click the SS Daily Bible Readings for an excellent devotional and preparation for the upcoming Sunday School study. Don’t forget to leave a comment or question down below. As always, remember to fear God and keep His commandments.
Pastor Jordan
