Christian Devotional – January 5, 2017

Understanding purpose is such an interesting thing because it can sometimes feel like we’ve lost our purpose. Read the book of Ruth in the Bible. It is only 4 short chapters, but it tells the story of 2 women who had lost their purpose.

Naomi had been married. She had 2 sons. By all accounts she had done well and was busy fulfilling the purpose for women in that day and time. Then her husband was killed and her sons were killed and she found herself drifting  with no purpose. She got depressed and even changed her own name to Mara, which mean bitter. Ruth had also lost her husband, but she refused to lose her purpose. She started to take on Naomi as her purpose. She wanted to care for her and in return, Naomi introduced her, although it was ery reluctantly, to God. Through God, Ruth and Naomi both, were able to see that purpose isn’t found in circumstances or in people. Purpose is found in God. When Boaz meets Ruth, he tells her in Ruth 2:12 that she is to be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel.

Often, part of our purpose is to feel that we are doing a good job at something or that we are being successful at something. This is a great reminder that the Lord is the One who rewards us for what we do, not others and not things. Our reward comes from the Lord as we are being faithful to Him. Our purpose comes from being obedient to the Lord and waiting on Him to give us our reward. If we are looking for purpose in society or through other people, we will be disappointed every time. We will never find true, lasting purpose until we are following God and allowing Him to use us.

Just like Naomi, sometimes we get shaken and we get distracted. We have forgotten our true purpose and we get depressed when we feel that our purpose has been taken away from us. As long as we are turning to God, we will never lose our purpose and we will always be seeking our reward from the only One who can truly give us our reward.