This is what I learned from my study this morning:
There was a wealthy and influential man named Boaz who owned a huge field. He hired harvesters to tend to his field.
Ruth was a widowed woman who wanted to provide for her mother-in-law, Naomi. Ruth went to Boaz's field and after asking permission, began picking up what the harvesters left behind.
After a while, Boaz told Ruth to begin working beside his harvesters to gather as much grain as she could. He also told his workers to intentionally drop some heads of barley for Ruth to collect.
When Ruth took the basket of grain and barley to Naomi, Naomi told Ruth that Boaz was one of their closest relatives, one of their "Family Redeemers".
Our church has recently begun to set out to reach a harvest... a harvest of souls. (sounds so churchy doesn't it?!)
As we take the steps to do our part to help our Mother (aka The Church), our Family Redeemer (aka Christ) commands the dropping of a little barley here and a little wheat there until the field is harvested.
In chapter 3 verse 15 of Ruth - The Bible says that Boaz added SIX SCOOPS of barkey into Ruth's cloak to take back to Naomi. He didn't want her going back to her mother-in-law empty handed.
I believe that if we really want to receive the harvest - and we do our part to work in the fields, we will be able to bring a harvest with us. I don't want to go to church empty-handed anymore.
I feel like there is more to share about the "Family Redeemer", but I need to do a little more studying on that topic...
