Who Are You Attracted To?

Lots of people give their respect away off of superficial things. If we see someone pull up in a nice car, step out in fancy clothes, carrying expensive bags, hanging with 'popular' people... we look at them with admiration.

We give them credibility merely because they have money and status. We treat them differently... better than others. We want to get close to those types of people. We want to be like them. We want them to like us. We imagine ourselves parading around with their things and dreaming of the day when we can fraternize with the 'popular' crowd.

Yet those people really don't have anything of value to give us. Even if they traded wardrobes, bank accounts, and friends with us... we still wouldn't be better off.

Ruth was a woman who knew how to recognize what was really valuable. When her husband died and she had nothing left, Ruth chose to stay with her mother in-law Naomi, a widower herself. Naomi had no money, no status, no rich connections. In order to eat Ruth had to go behind the threshers in the field to pick up the wheat they had left behind.

Why would anyone want to choose to live that way?

Ruth recognized the value of the God that Naomi served. She recognized the integrity and the spirit of her mother in-law, and Ruth wanted that in her own life. She chose a life of poverty in order to be rich in spirit.

As a result of Ruth's wise choice, she eventually became rich in every area of her life. She married the owner of the field she was picking up scraps from, she bore children, and God blessed her to be at the head of the lineage of King David whose lineage led up to Jesus Christ.

Who do you find yourself gravitating to? Are you attracted to what people have going on outwardly? Or, do you look at their character and listen to their words? Do you study how they live? Can you recognize when someone is close to God? Do you get close to those who are in true relationship with the Father?

Don't get so caught up in outward things that hold no real value. Make sure you are drawing close to those people who will feed your spirit. You'll benefit overall in the long run.

Verse of the Day: ...but Ruth clave unto her. And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. 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: 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 1:14b-17