A good testimony

So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favour in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?" And Boaz answered and said to her, "It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. The LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge." – Ruth 2.10-12

Ruth and Naomi were in a struggle. They had returned to Bethlehem after Naomi’s ten years in Moab. Naomi, or Mara as she called herself now, was a woman of great sorrow. She had lost everything except Ruth.

They were at the point where they had to go to distant family members and ask to be allowed to glean in the fields. Gleaning is basically picking up the scraps left over from the harvest. They decided to approach a relative named Boaz to see about gleaning his fields. They decided, as two single women, to look to him for protection.

Ruth was from Moab. She was a stranger and a foreigner. And still Boaz agreed to favour her and leave extra in the fields where she was gleaning.

When Ruth asked why Boaz told her it was because she had proven her character by her care for her mother-in-law.

This is an illustration of how important our testimony is. Eventually God is going to use Ruth in a very special way –and it all started because she was loyal and devoted to her grieving mother-in-law.

What do our testimonies say about us? How would people respond to us based on how we treat others?