And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after one in whose sight I may find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
— Ruth 2:2
What a wonderful field the church life is! Those who are stronger can harvest the grain, and those who are weaker can glean the portion the harvesters leave for them. Concerning Ruth, Boaz told his harvesters, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. Also let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her” (Ruth 2:15—œ16). When I was young, I did not know how to produce anything, but I knew how to follow the older ones. I enjoyed a lot of “leftovers.” Eventually I grew, becoming equipped and matured in my operation, until I became a laborer able to produce something for others to enjoy.
The church life is the place for all of us. There is always blessing to be enjoyed in this field. In today’s language, the field of Boaz is the expression of the Body of Christ where we live. Praise the Lord! Wherever we live, there is a field in which we can labor. If we are weaker, we can receive something from others in this field. If we are stronger, we can labor here so that others have something to eat. As long as we are born again and have a desire for the Lord Himself, we can be satisfied here, for this field produces barley and wheat (Ruth 2:23).
Adapted from Ruth: Growth Unto Maturity, page 36.
Monday: “Delivered from the Darkness We Were In”