Shifting from Valentine's Day to the joys of Sunday School! You get up early to go to church and sit in class before the main church service. Sometimes you learn and sometimes you sleep-truth be told! Looking at the landscape of love in America,it's clear many churchgoers don't pay much attention in Sunday School.
Men and women alike are guilty but one particular story sticks out as it has become a trend in the church as of late. This article will shed a little light and offer up a few laughs as we examine the inefficiency of the waiting on Boaz mentality and other modern day church dating fallacies.
Well...if you spent Valentine's Day alone, it’s probably your fault! Plainly put, Boaz just doesn't exist today! It's not a biblical mystery, it’s fact! His role in Ruth's life was kinsman redeemer, a role not needed nor fulfilled in Western society. For starters,if you can't find a way to liken your state to Ruth's before she left Moab, you don't even need a Boaz! Actually, your odds of being alive when Jesus comes back and being caught up in the rapture are greater than any circumstantial link to Ruth and Boaz!
This trend is sweeping through the church now and it's no better than the "Prince Charming" or “Knight in Shining Armor" fantasy. Why would you need Prince Charming unless you're out cold in a coma (Snow White/Sleeping Beauty). Or maybe you've given up on Prince Charming and feel a lot like Princess Fiona, who ended up with an ogre...and a talkative donkey! Just saying here, don’t let your wait for Boaz turn into the wait for Jesus(his long awaited return)!
Who are you with?
Ruth was connected to a woman of wisdom. Are you connected to a woman of wisdom, ladies? If not,you may as well scratch that lunch date with Boaz off your bucket list anyway-it ain't gonna happen! Esther's beauty was not enough to exempt her from the beautification process all the women went through. (Esther 2:12) Mordecai her older cousin became her adviser through this process and all the way to the throne.
Love is God
God is for love and marriage! He is love, He demonstrated His immense love for us(Rom. 5:8)! In the bible, there are timeless examples of God's illustration of love (Jesus, Song of Solomon-though scholars are divided on its actual theme). In Ephesians 5:22-6:4, Paul uses the family dynamic to illustrate and in a way orchestrate the church's intrapersonal relationships.
"Are those your work clothes?"
Ladies, you aren't gleaning in the fields so freshen up, perk up and put the best you forward! If you're walking around in "Jesus gettin' us ready for that great day clothes”, that may be the only day a man is showing up to get you and take you anywhere!
Lastly,King David was birthed from the Boaz and Ruth's lineage and so was the Lord Jesus Christ. Ruth's story is one of redemption, what is your love story gonna be? I doubt that most of you reading this are a young widow in a strange land. If you're a divorcee, chances are you and your ex mother in law aren't on speaking terms, Boaz was an unmarried old guy with money. Who in today's society couldn't go for immediate wealth and a presumably short marriage?!? It happens every day!
Hey fellas...
Ladies you're not in this alone either. Mighty men still seek out "Delilah”, the purpose killer! Or what about Hosea and Gomer mixed in with all these other lovelorn Sunday School staples? Men dating troubled women and seeing it somehow as their mission from God (Hosea's actually was). And don't think you're unseen, wishing to be someone's Boaz. Get it together,fellas!
Samson's picker was broken and the modern day "Baby Ruth" is looking for a husband on hospice...the only fulfilling marriage these two(personas) will be a part of is Christ's with His bride, the church! What ever happened to "rejoice with the wife of your youth"?!?
Comments