How you approach today will have an impact on your tomorrow. How you lived yesterday can be changed in this “˜today’. Each person is responsible before God – to trust Him, to obey what He says. Of course, it is your choice if you obey or go your own willful way.
Today is counted in eternity. What you choose to do about what God said about His Son determines your eternity. God has said to believe that you need to receive His gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Hope looks to the future of eternity, knowing God is with you.
You may have heard these words before and ignored them or lightly skimmed over them…please consider carefully what you choose to do with God’s words, what you choose to believe about the Lord Jesus Christ…it is your eternity.
Ruth had chosen, while still in Moab, to put her faith in the living God Whom Naomi worshiped. She chose to be courageous as she traveled to Bethlehem. She had chosen to follow and be with God’s chosen people. (Amplified) Ruth 1:16 “…Urge me not to leave you or to 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.”
Was Ruth fearful or anxious? She may have been, but we do know that she was courageous. Choosing courage is an action not dependent on emotions or circumstances. Ruth chose to be courageous and determined to follow God in obedience, trusting Him for the outcome. Do you do this?
(NASB) Ruth 3:5 “She [Ruth] said to her [Naomi], “˜All that you say I will do.'”
***Naomi had told Ruth what she was to do in order to be protected under the customs of Israel.
(NASB) Ruth 3:6 “So she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her.”
***Ruth was courageous. Courage in the future of the unknown or in the face of danger is commendable. Courage was shown by Rahab (Boaz’ mother) when she hid two spies for the Hebrews before they entered the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua. Because of Rahab’s faith in the Lord God of the Hebrews, she believed Him to be the God in heaven above and on earth beneath. (See Joshua 2:11) And she became one of the handfuls of women named in the lineage of Jesus.
In what areas do we need to choose to be courageous today? Those who experience hurricanes which hurl themselves onto land, inundating cities, homes and countryside with wind, water and destruction are to be feared. It takes courage to go back into the areas of devastation to begin the task of rebuilding homes and lives.
Being courageous to pray for elections and then praying for those who have been voted into office, no matter what your political beliefs are, is courage to trust in God.
It takes courage to wait out the storms of the stock market and housing downturns, it takes courage to trust God for the outcome in our lives.
It takes courage to continue to believe in the Lord Jesus when persecution, imprisonment and even death are real threats that become reality in the lives of many in China, Indonesia, North Korea, the Philippines and other places throughout the world.
Being courageous is to trust God!
Where do you need to trust God and stand with courage?
