Quotes:
“Choose your love. Love your choice.” ― Thomas S. Monson
“We are our choices.” ― Jean-Paul Sartre
“Alice came to a fork in the road. 'Which road do I take?' she asked. 'Where do you want to go?' responded the Cheshire Cat. 'I don't know,' Alice answered. 'Then,' said the Cat, 'it doesn't matter.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
“Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with.” ― Brodi Ashton, Everneath
“We are free to choose our paths, but we can't choose the consequences that come with them.” ― Sean Covey, The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Teens
“We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.” ― Ken Levine
Hebrews 4:1-16
Ruth 3:1 "Shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee."
What is this “rest”?
Isaiah 11:10 “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.”
Isaiah 28:9-12 “9- Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 10- For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 11- For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. 12- To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing…”
Ruth means “friendship” and in Hebrew is Rut and Rut spelled backwards in Hebrew is the word “Dove”.
Jesus is a “…friend that sticks closer than a bother…”
John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;”
John 14:18 “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”
John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
Herein is a problem: Ruth was a Moabites and…
The Ammonites and Moabites are offspring from the incest relationship between Lot and his two daughters.
Deu. 23:3-4 “3- An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever: 4- Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.”
Yet Ruth is the Grandmother of David of whom comes the Christ.
How is this possible?
The Hebrew word “Moabite” in Deu. 23:3 is in the masculine form; meaning that this only applies to the males and not the females.
This demonstrated God’s plan for “making of two [Jew & Gentile], one new man [the Church in Christ].”
Choices:
Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon and Chilion choose to leave the land of their people and live in the land of Moab.
Trouble befell them and all died but Naomi and her two daughter-in-laws, Orpah and Ruth.
Naomi choose to go home to Bethlehem (house-of-bread).
Orpah choose to stay in Moab.
Ruth choose to go with Naomi.
Ruth clave unto her mother-in-law and said…
Ruth 1:16-17 “16- And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17- Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”
Ruth’s choices bring her to Boaz her Kinsmen-Redeemer.
Our choices will bring us unto the Blood bought Church of the Living God… Jesus our Christ!
Most are familiar with Judy Garland, child star who became a superstar at 17 in the "Wizard of Oz." By 1948 she was the leading actress.
At 18 she was seeing a psychiatrist.
At 28 she attempted suicide.
She had 4 failed marriages.
She was addicted to uppers to perform and downers to sleep.
She was found locked in her bathroom by her 5th husband, slumped over with her head in her lap.
Doctors said she died from an overdose of sleeping pills.
Her daughter (Liza Minnelli), said “I think she was just tired.”
Even with her success, all the choices she made in her life still left her missing something.
Real joy, happiness, peace is not found in possessions, pleasure, or popularity. Rather it is found in things of intrinsic value… God & Family.
Real peace can only be found at the feet of Christ our Redeemer.
Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
It is our choices that place us at His feet.
I think the happiest people on earth are those who have a close relationship to the Christ.
Where are you choices leading you to try and find happiness?
In a place or in a person?
