What God Wants Most

The book of Ruth intrigues me because to me it expresses the heart of God.  What God wants most for us today is the same as what He desired for all of the "greats" in the Bible - for us to be His people, His sons and daughters, His family.

Ruth, a stranger in a strange land among a strange people, sums up God's heart's desire in beautiful poetry spoken to her mother-in-law Naomi:  Where you go, I will go.  Where you dwell, I will dwell.  Your people will be my people, and your God, my God.  Nothing but death will separate us.  I know that Ruth is not speaking directly to God here, but her sentiment expresses God's dream - a group of people who love Him enough to forget everything of the world and devotedly follow Him wherever He goes.

What God has done in the past, He does today.  What He does today, He will continue to do in the future.  The past, the present, and the future are all the same to Him.  We have the church today because He is doing as He has always done.  What has He always done?  He invites ordinary people to become part of His extraordinary family and take care of family business, His kingdom.  When we are adopted into His family, we receive the right and the power to take care of business, God's business.

There are no insignificant people in this family.  Each has Jesus and the right to everything He is.  The same is true for fellowships who gather in His name regardless of size.  None of them are insignificant.  True believers everywhere have the right to everything God has to offer.  It has been so in the past, is the same today, and will be so in the future.  What God has done in the past for Moses and David and Isaiah and the disciples and Paul, He does and will continue to do for all of us who truly believe.

A. W. Tozer says, "Each generation has different personnel, but it is the same church coming down in unbroken lineal descent."  The legacy of any church or of any man is never about what the man did or could not do but about what God has done in and through that man.  It is God's work in and through us that is the legacy.  His kingdom is our inheritance.

Just think of all He did in the Bible and of all that He accomplished through the Luthers and Finneys and Wesleys and Billy Grahams and John Wimbers of our world.  What He was able to do in and through them, He is able to do in and through us and the generations to come because HE IS!  As Tozer says, "His fire has not dimmed in glory, and the mighty arm of God's Christ is not a diminished power."

There IS a fountain filled with blood, a covenant that cannot be broken or amended or edited or altered on the computers of our day.  There IS truth and power and promises and gifts and provisions.  If we let Him, He will do in us and through us that which He did in and through others who came before us.  Our legacy to the next generation is to let Him.

Oh, let us humbly say yes to His invitation to come be with Him.  

Where You go, I will go.

Where You dwell, I will dwell.

Your people will be my people,

and You are my ONLY God.

My desire is to be with You no matter the cost.

 

 

Dare we say no?