Serving or Sitting?

“And Ruth said, ‘Let me now go to the field, and glean’.” Ruth 2:2

Ruth had taken on the responsibility to care for her mother-in-law. She had undertaken that role in a hostile environment and not flinched. But how would they eat? Ruth said that she would go and glean. Gleaning was God’s law for the assistance to the poor. Gleaners would follow the workers in the field and pick up the scraps that were left. It was back breaking work for little reward. Ruth said, “Let me go do this. Let me serve you, Naomi, the beloved one.”

A sad truth in churches is that few serve. All like to get fed, but few serve. We feed on the Word brought by one who works. We sit in pews cleaned by one who works. We drink coffee made by one who works. We enjoy the beautiful church campus maintained by one who works, but we don’t want to work. Ruth said, “Let me do it”. Scripture tells us that we were saved to do good works that God has planned for us to do.

Dear Father, Give me a heart like Ruth to say, “Let me do it.” Amen. 

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