The passage above was Boaz's response to what we may call Ruth's 'marriage proposal' to him. There are many things we can learn from the life of Boaz which I believe is a challenge to us as Christians today. Ruth was there alone with him in the field, in the middle of the night, but he did not touch her. He was a rich man and was qualified to claim Ruth to himself, but he exercised self-control. He had been showing favour to Ruth since the harvest started. She had gleaned from his field severally, but he did not exploit the situation as it presented itself. To say it in our modern words today, he helped Ruth and Naomi to have something to eat. He helped her to have something to do temporarily. However, he did not allow these to make him to exploit the vulnerable woman. "Lie here until morning", he told her but never touched her.
Many people have thrown morality to the winds. Many men can no longer be trusted with the opposite sex no matter who the woman is to them. We have had cases of people sleeping with their best friend's wife or fiance. What of those who sleep with maids who serve them in the house? We seem to see every woman as a sexual figure without considering the stories behind these figures we see. We have a generation that has bought into the worldly deception that sex is the high point of happiness. Sex is now a god. Everyday, sex is being advertised and sold to us through the means of the TV, Print Media and the Internet as if you are missing the whole world if you do not engage in it. If a girl says that she is a virgin today, her friends will squirm and make her feel very awkward.
The churches are not a 'safer place' any more. A lot of stories of pastors abusing the privilege God gave to them abound. Every now and then, you hear stories of one moral failure or the other among church leaders. We are indeed in a big moral crises. Our children are confused because we do not model purity to them and cannot answer the questions they are asking based on the sensual information they are exposed to.
But, is it possible to live a holy life today? YES IT IS! Is it possible to show the kind of moral strength Boaz exhibited in the passage above? YES IT IS! That moral strength is what we need today.Boaz was a man of honour and integrity.
This is not meant to condemn or discourage anyone struggling to come out of a moral failure. Don't give up. Fight and win because your purity is God's will. You can make it. This is meant to encourage all men to pursue excellence and purity in their relationships; pursue purity in their thoughts and conducts. We can win; we can overcome if we believe, no matter what is going on around us today. We once shared A Letter to Christian Men by the wife of Tim Challis on this website and we still think that every man should think seriously about it. We can be different from the world. We can make a covenant to be the Boazs of today.
Write me if you were blessed or have any need for counselling. Drop a comment. God bless you.
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