Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Today's Passage: Ruth 3-4

Naomi and Ruth have suffered great tragedy in their lives. They have both lost husbands and are now fending for themselves in an unfamiliar land. They are struggling to make ends meet when Naomi suggests that Ruth at least find a husband. Enter Boaz, kinsman-redeemer extraordinaire.

A kinsman-redeemer pays a debt for somebody who cannot pay it himself. Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer. When I think about Jesus, I may think of his teachings or his miracles, maybe even the way He takes care of me now. I think of the cross and the resurrection. I am aware of all of these things, but how often do I truly think of my DEBT? Debt is certainly a concept with which we are all fairly familiar. If a person came along and offered to clear all of my financial debt...credit cards, student loans, car, ALL of it...I would certainly think often about what that person had done for me. While I often think of Jesus dying for my sins, I fail to truly consider my debt and what the payment for my sins would be. How much more worshipful would I be if I stopped to think about the wages of sin being death? How much more meaningful would the words of the song be if I grasped the weight of it? I could not have paid my own debt...only Jesus.

I hear the Savior say,"Thy strength indeed is small.
Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.

Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

Lord, now indeed I find Thy pow'r and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots, And melt the heart of stone.

And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,
Jesus died my soul to save my lips shall still repeat.

Oh, praise the One who paid my debt,
And raised this life up from the dead.

Lyric Credit: Copyright © 2006 worshiptogether.com Songs / sixsteps Music (ASCAP) / Admin. by EMI CMG Publishing