Where you die, I will die…

ruth & naomi 2

The bible is the source of every truth that exists regarding our relationship with God, and with each other.  Here is another example.  Just recently a dear friend got married and it gave me pause to think again about that commitment.  Not every marriage lasts forever, sadly, although I am pretty sure all start with that intention.  Being blessed with a long marriage is something special, and certainly God’s intention for all His children that may be so moved to do so, regardless when it may occur.

While looking for an appropriate verse to add to a small video clip of the ceremony, I was taken to the one below.  Although the context of this bible verse is actually a young widowed woman speaking to her mother-in-law, it still remains in my opinion, the strongest expression of commitment that I have ever seen, heard or read.  When and if it comes time that our kids ever discuss marriage with us, I will ask them to read this passage and tell us if they are willing to exchange this vow with their spouse-to-be:

“Entreat me not to leave you, 
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your 
God, my God.
Where you die, I will die,
and there will I be buried.
The Lord do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.”

Ruth 1:16-17

This is an unconditional commitment, and one that is not easily brushed aside.  And here it is in its original context between what may be seen today as not the usual suspects – a daughter-in-law and her mother-in law.  It demonstrates to me at least, that if a commitment like this is possible between these two, what does it say about the commitment of marriage, or the commitment between a loving God and His children?  It won’t be Him that gives up on us.  So, if we are going to get involved with a spouse, with God or with Jesus, consider it carefully, because this is the commitment that is required.  Gratefully however, it is this commitment made that brings peace – the knowledge that with one decision, all other decisions are made.  And we are relieved.

2 thoughts on “Where you die, I will die…

  1. Marriage is always urgent. There never has been a generation whose view of marriage is high enough. The chasm between the biblical vision of marriage and the human vision is, and has always been, gargantuan. Some cultures in history respect the importance and the permanence of marriage more than others. Some, like our own, have such low, casual, take-it-or-leave-it attitudes toward marriage as to make the biblical vision seem ludicrous to most people.

    A vision of marriage higher and deeper and stronger and more glorious than anything this culture—or perhaps you yourself—ever imagined. The greatness and glory of marriage is beyond our ability to think or feel without divine revelation and without the illumining and awakening work of the Holy Spirit. The world cannot know what marriage is without learning it from God. The natural man does not have the capacities to see or receive or feel the wonder of what God has designed for marriage to be.We need to be set you free from small, worldly, culturally contaminated, self-centered, Christ-ignoring, God-neglecting, romance-intoxicated, unbiblical views of marriage.

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