Ruth became one of those in the bloodline of Jesus.
Many times in our lives we get blind-sided by the news of a friend’s death or of a sudden death in our immediate family and we don’t know how to handle it. We must seek Jesus in our grief and let Him have the pain and the suffering. It sounds easy but it isn’t, particularly at the time of the loss. Why am I bringing this up today? Because, yesterday was the fourth anniversary of my Dachshund, Trixie, passing away and I need to write about it.
The months after her death were hard because she was only a month or two from her 15th birthday. It happened during the first months of COVID so we couldn’t be in the office with her which hurt. It felt like losing a child because it was so sudden. One of the girls came to the door and told us we needed to come in quickly. They had taken an x-ray of her and she had an enlarged heart and by the time we got inside, she was taking her last breath. Even four years after the event just thinking about it hurts.
Grief doesn’t go away. Time may help eventually but grief and the pain of loss never really go away. We must give those feelings to Jesus and let Him help us with them. God knows the pain and the feelings that we have when a beloved family member dies and we have to trust Him in the pain so we can move through it one day at a time.
God loves you and His justice was placed on Jesus in your place. Seek Him for your salvation today.
If you believe in Jesus as the Savior of the world, you should do this every day and not just at worship services. God began the salvation of mankind on the day that Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge. If you have read God’s Word, there are many instances in the Old Testament where He shows them how He expects them to live. He gives them the Ten Commandments and the Law to point them in the right direction but even as He leads them through the wilderness toward the land of promise they are griping and complaining.
We do it every day as well. We hear a sermon on Sunday and it has some really good points in it but we question some of them. It may be that we don’t like the way the preacher said it or the way he said it. Maybe we got offended at something in the sermon, as many people do, and decided that they’re not coming back to “that church”. Why? Just because of an offense to your pride? Being offended at something shouldn’t stand in the way of your eternity. Speak with the preacher and ask him to clarify the part of the sermon that you found offensive. Ask God to help you to understand how He wants you to serve Him and truly listen for His reply by praying even more and reading the Bible.
You can’t know God for just thirty minutes each week. You have to seek Him every day, a little bit at a time. Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship and we should treat it as such. Visiting with God once a week is a very limited way to begin a relationship because it should be a daily visit through prayer and reading His Word. Even if you only read one chapter every day. Pray about what you have read and then ask Him to help you to put it into practice in your life.
The Living Message of Christ 