David N. Walker's Blog, page 22
February 25, 2014
It Is Finished
We have pretty well covered what this series set out to do. We’ve discussed being a Christian and becoming a Christian. We talked about not getting bogged down with a bunch of man-made rules and regulations. Today, in this final post on the subject, we will examine Jesus’s final statement on the cross.
If you have not read the earlier posts on this subject, find the “Categories” list in the right-hand column of this page and click on “Christianity 101.” This will pull up all the previous posts so you can read through them in order.
Our basic text for today consists of three words. These three words were the last uttered by Jesus before He died on the cross, so they must have some pretty special meaning to us as Christians.
John 19:30 says: Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
As a side note, it’s interesting that John didn’t say He died. He said He gave up His spirit. No man could kill Jesus. Man couldn’t even have put Him up on that cross. He allowed them to do that. And He gave up His spirit—voluntarily dying to complete the work He set out to do.
What was finished? Obviously, Jesus’s life as a man here on earth was finished. Obviously, also, the work of His ministry here was finished. But is that all?
To answer that, we must ask the question, “Why did He come?” His incarnation and life here on earth allowed Him to spend some 33 years living among us and to spend some three years preaching, teaching, ministering and healing. But was that all?
As important as all those things were, the real reason for His incarnation, life, death and resurrection was to triumph over sin, once and for all. In order to do this, He had to replace the Old Covenant, which could not save anyone, with a New Covenant under which God extended His grace to all who would receive it.
It was the Old Covenant which was finished. Up until the moment Jesus gave up His spirit on the cross, God’s people were subject to all the Mosaic laws, which no man could live up to and which, therefore, could save no one. But when Jesus drew His last breath, that Old Covenant was replaced by the New Covenant.
Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, and Luke 23:45 all three report that the veil in the temple was ripped in two at the moment of Jesus’s death. Was that ripping necessary in order for Jesus’s life and ministry to be over? Of course not. There was a much deeper reason for the tearing of the veil.
The temple veil represented the priesthood. It also separated the people from God. God caused the veil to be torn down as a sign that the priesthood was abolished and that, under the New Covenant, He was accessible to His people.
That’s right: accessible. You and I have just as much right and access to God as Billy Graham or Paul or any other Christian who has ever lived. We don’t have to go through temple rituals. We don’t have to have a priest intercede for us. We have direct access to God the Father, and He tells us each to approach His throne boldly.
There are religions in this world today which teach that you must have a priest to intercede between you and God or to represent God in forgiving your sins, but the New Testament of the Christian Bible says no such thing. God listens to you when you pray. He forgives your sins when you confess them.
1 Peter 2:9, which is speaking to Christians in general, says: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood . . .
You and I are priests one to another. You not only can pray directly to God without the aid—or intervention—of any clergyman, but you and I can also pray for each other. We don’t need professional help.
It’s a shame that so many Christians are burdened by man-made rules and regulations telling us we can’t dance or go to movies or drink alcohol if we’re Christians, or that we have to have a paid priest pardon our sins or pray for us or administer some kind of rite over our dead bodies in order to go to heaven.
It’s very simple. To be a Christian, you have to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Once you have done that—from your heart—no man can add to or remove your salvation. The Christian life is a simple life if we’ll allow it to be.
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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.
For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.
Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.
Filed under: Christianity 101 Tagged: Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, Forgiveness, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, Jesus, salvation, Sins, Works 
February 21, 2014
Shauny Award
Raani York has been reading my Tuesday Christianity 101 blogs for some time now, and she just nominated me for the Shauny Award.
It was created last November by Doctor Rex (Horty, as she likes to be called) in honor of Shaun Gibson, a Scottish blogger who lives with chronic pain syndrome. I know little about either of these people, but I know Raani has been a faithful follower, and I appreciate the award because it’s from her.
The sentiment in which the award was created is just beautiful and the only rules, if you can call them rules, are these:
Show Humanity, Show Love, Be Yourself, Don’t Be Others, Don’t Gossip, and Share This Award with 10 others.
Here’s my list of people I’m nominating for the award:
1. Susie Lindau
2. Julie Glover
3. Piper Bayard
7. Catie Rhodes
If you look for Renee’s blog, you won’t find many recent entries, because she’s been going through hell for the last eight months or so overcoming a drug dependency which resulted from following a doctor’s orders. She may not be able to post a blog to accept this award, but she’s such a sweet person and good blogger I had to include her in this award.
I always appreciate being nominated for something like this, and I hope each of my nominees will feel the same.
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WANA: We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.
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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.
For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.
Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Advice, Authorship, Caring, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help, Shauny Award for Blogging Excellence
February 18, 2014
Accepting Salvation
The concept of grace seems so difficult for people to accept. So often, we believe in heaven and hell, but we think heaven is something we need to earn.
If you have not read the earlier posts on this subject, find the “Categories” list in the right-hand column of this page and click on “Christianity 101.” This will pull up all the previous posts so you can read through them in order.
I used to be one of those people. A young lady who worked for me would witness to me, and I would tell her I wasn’t as bad as most people and I was sure I’d make it to heaven. Fortunately, I was persuaded that’s not how it works.
The plain and simple fact is that we are all born sinners. From Adam right up to the present day, every human being born has been a sinner—except for Jesus Christ.
God is perfect, and His righteousness doesn’t allow Him to be in the presence of sin. But He’s also a God of grace and mercy. He wants to gather His children around Himself, to fellowship with them as any father would with his children, but His perfect righteousness cannot allow sinful man in His presence.
This is why He sent His Son to be born of a woman—to be the God-man. He needed someone without sin to substitute Himself and take upon Himself all the sins of every man, woman and child who ever lived or would ever live. By sacrificing Himself on the cross and being resurrected from the grave, Jesus triumphed over death and paid the price for my sins and yours.
That one sacrifice that one time was sufficient to cover the sins of all who would accept it. You and I don’t have to do anything to pay for our sins. That bill has already been paid. All we have to do is accept that payment as our salvation.
Many years ago by myself in a cabin at Lake Murray, Oklahoma, I finally reckoned on the truth of my secretary’s witnessing—along with witnessing from several other people—and knelt on the floor beside my bed. I confessed to God that I realized I was a sinner and that I couldn’t save myself. I asked Jesus to come into my heart and take over my life, and I’ve never been the same since.
I did nothing to gain my salvation except submit myself to Him in that prayer. I couldn’t then and can’t now do anything on my own to earn or lose that salvation. It was and is the free gift of God’s grace.
If you’ve never done that, please examine your life honestly and realize that you can’t live right, that you can’t be good, that you can’t be acceptable to God on your own. Quit trying to earn your salvation. Just submit yourself to Him so He can give it to you.
If you do this, find other Christians to associate with, whether in a church or Sunday School class or just one on one. Begin to spend time in the Bible to learn more about this wonderful God of ours. His Holy Spirit can help you understand what you read, and you can come to know Him better and better.
Beyond this, don’t let anyone start piling “oughts” onto you. You ought to do this, and you ought not to do that. That’s legalism, and you don’t want any part of it.
Being a Christian is not a burden weighing you down with rules and regulations. Being a Christian is freedom from those burdens. Accept that freedom and rejoice in it.
Do you have anything you want to share about your own salvation experience? I love to read your comments.
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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.
For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.
Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.
Filed under: Christianity 101 Tagged: Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, Forgiveness, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, Jesus, salvation, Sins, Works 
February 14, 2014
Happy Valentine’s Day
Today is Valentine’s Day. Since I know you’ll all be spending a lot of time sending Valentines and reading the ones others have sent you, I’m going to make my post today very brief.
First of all, will you be my Valentine? I hope so, because I love all of you.
Did you remember to give your special sweetie a Valentine? How about your kids and grandkids, if you’re old enough and fortunate enough to have them? Special friends?
Blue Mountain and other electronic greeting card companies have greatly simplified the business of sending cards. If you don’t already use one of these outfits, check them out. You save trips to card shops, the price of cards, postage and hassle.
At Christmas, my wife and I each pick a card we want to send to the people on our lists and add a personalized message. Then we go through our email address lists which we’ve loaded into Blue Mountain, and click a button. Voila, we’ve sent cards to dozens of people each. We could pick separate cards for each person if we wanted to.
Our Valentine lists are not as long as our Christmas card lists, but we still send them to several people each, including each other. And birthday cards throughout the year.
Okay, so we benefit our own laziness by using these cards, but how about the people we send them to? They don’t have any envelopes or cards to recycle or put in the trash. All they have to do after reading them is delete them. So simple on both ends.
Gotta go. Need to get over to Blue Mountain and post a card on Facebook for all my friends there.
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WANA: We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.
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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.
For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.
Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Advice, Authorship, Blue Mountain, Caring, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help, Valentine Cards, Valentine’s Day
February 11, 2014
Obtaining God’s Forgiveness
All too often, we Christians want to complicate Christianity. We come up with rules we think must govern what it means to be a Christian. We make up rituals and rites and all manner of complication that have nothing to do with the Christian life.
If you have not read the earlier posts on this subject, find the “Categories” list in the right-hand column of this page and click on “Christianity 101.” This will pull up all the previous posts so you can read through them in order.
One of the least understood subjects in Christendom, in my experience, is God’s forgiveness. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, part of the prayer we raise is for God to forgive us. He extends that forgiveness as a part of our salvation, yet I continually hear Christians asking God for forgiveness.
Do we doubt that He actually forgave us at our salvation? Do we not think Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross and subsequent resurrection was sufficient to win our salvation?
But, David, I’ve continued to sin since my salvation.
Yes, I’m quite sure you have, as have I and every other Christian. But do we need to put Jesus back on the cross? Do we need to be saved all over again?
No! Salvation is a once and done deal. If you do not understand that, please let me know in a comment, and I’ll dedicate a future blog to this subject.
The God who made us and provided for our salvation knows us—better than we know ourselves. He knew when He allowed His Son to be placed on that cross that we would continue to sin even after we were born again. And He made provision for that continued sin.
The Apostle John addresses this subject in the book of First John. Verses eight and nine of the first chapter read as follows in the New American Standard Bible:
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
There’s no point trying to hide sin from God. He knows about it before we even commit it. All we do when we do that is deceive ourselves and build a wall between ourselves and God.
The only way for a born-again Christian to deal with sin is to confess it to God. When we do that, verse nine above says He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It doesn’t say anything about doing some kind of penance or fingering a bunch of beads on a string or lighting a candle. It says confess our sins to God. Obviously, we must make that confession with a repentant heart. Otherwise, we’re just playing a game and pretending to confess. But as long as our hearts are repentant, the confession is all God asks for.
He takes it upon Himself not only to forgive us but also to cleanse us. What does that mean? His cleansing is the process by which He conforms us to the image of His Son, as He promised in Romans 8:28 & 29.
Cleansing is not an instantaneous item. There’s a saying that we have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. “We have been saved” refers to our rebirth when we accepted Jesus as our savior. “We are being saved” refers to the ongoing process of cleansing us and conforming us to the image of Jesus. “We will be saved” refers to our ultimate perfection when we finally meet Jesus face to face.
This is all God’s doing. Our part is to turn to Jesus for salvation, which we have already done if we are born-again Christians, and to confess our sins as God brings them to our attention. That’s it. When we do those two things, God does all the rest.
Please feel free to leave a comment agreeing, disagreeing or asking questions about what is written here. Feel free also to leave your email address if you’d like a personal reply to a question or disagreement.
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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.
For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.
Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.
Filed under: Christianity 101 Tagged: Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, Forgiveness, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, Jesus, Sins, Works 
February 7, 2014
Warm Fuzzies
Last weekend Sharon and I went to Lamesa, Texas, to visit some of my kinfolks. In case you don’t know where Lamesa is, it’s about half-way between Lubbock and Midland and about 300 miles west of Fort Worth.
Most people just traveling through would probably say the South Plains of West Texas are not particularly pretty. After all, there are no mountains and few trees. In fact, once you top the Caprock, there are few rises or depressions in the ground for hundreds of miles. It’s flat as a pancake.
Beauty being in the eyes of the beholder, however, I love this area. I love seeing mile after mile of land cultivated for planting, growing and harvesting King Cotton. It’s the center of an area that produces a huge percentage of the world’s cotton. It’s also the home of many of my kinfolks, and it’s where many more of them grew up.
Do you have first cousins with whom you share a closeness? I do. My mother and my two aunts who lived in Lamesa saw to it that we kids developed that closeness. They would drive for hours more than once each summer to exchange kids in order to promote that closeness, and we all feel indebted to them for doing so.
Some people I know, such as my wife, have a large number of school friends with whom they’ve stayed in touch through the years. Others, like me, see school friends only at infrequent class reunions. It always feels good to see such people, because they share the bond of common experience with us, but it’s rare to find any real depth in those relationships.
Family is different—at least it should be. The common bond of sharing parents, or grandparents in the case of first cousins, is a lifelong bond that binds us together in ways that school friendships usually don’t.
I manage to spend time with the cousins in Lamesa two to four times a year or more, but I have other first cousins I see much less frequently because of geography. In fact, I don’t usually see my own sister as often as I see the cousins in Lamesa. But with kinfolks, the bond is such that we start right where we left off, no matter the time lapse between visits. It’s a warm fuzzy relationship.
Those who read my blogs and Facebook posts regularly probably know that I like warm fuzzies. I go out of my way to engender caring relationships of some kind with people I deal with. A hug, a touch on the shoulder, waitresses and bank tellers and such using my first name.
Our world has become so impersonal in so many ways, all of that is reassuring to me. It acknowledges that I’m there and that I’m of some degree of importance to them. It makes me feel good. I usually reach out first, but that’s okay. In most cases, once I do, they reach out to me in return.
How about you? Where do you get warm fuzzies? How is your relationship with your kinfolks? What do you do to encourage interpersonal relationships with people you deal with?
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WANA: We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.
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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.
For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.
Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Advice, Authorship, Caring, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Kinfolks, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help, Warm fuzzies
February 4, 2014
Tithing–Part Two
All too often, we Christians want to complicate Christianity. We come up with rules we think must govern what it means to be a Christian. We make up rituals and rites and all manner of complication that have nothing to do with the Christian life.
A woman asked a question in a comment on my recent post about tithing that is a perfect example of how we complicate life for other Christians. I’m not sure whether someone had told her she had to tithe in a certain way or she just questioned herself because of comments or teachings in general she’d heard on the subject. In either case, I’d like to simplify things for her and anyone else having this quandary.
If you have not read the earlier posts on this subject, find the “Categories” list in the right-hand column of this page and click on “Christianity 101.” This will pull up all the previous posts so you can read through them in order.
This lady wrote: David I like your post on tithing as money excites me. What if you’re not a regular tither, but you give regularly to the work of God? You sow big seeds into the ministry and give to the poor. Will God according to Malachi resist the devourer on your behalf? Or does that verse refer only to regular tithers?
Apparently, someone has been telling this woman her giving did not qualify as a tithe because ________. Fill in that blank with whatever they’ve been telling her disqualified her tithes. My guess is that she’s been told she has to give ten per cent of her income to her local church, separate and apart from anything she gives to ministries or to the poor. How we Christians straight-jacket one another and put one another on guilt trips!
Malachi talks a lot about tithes God considers insufficient and a stench in His nostrils. In Malachi’s time, tithes were generally animal sacrifices, and the animals were to be clean and whole and the best one had to offer. A lot of people were sacrificing sick or blemished animals, and that is what God was reproving.
In Malachi 3:10 & 11, God says:
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.
“Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts.
In contemporary times, tithes are generally made in money rather than animals, so the condition of an animal presented doesn’t enter into the discussion. But where is this money to go? Verse 10 says to bring it into God’s storehouse. What does that mean?
The storehouse under the Old Covenant was a building attached to the outside of the temple. It was where all tithes (sacrifices) were to be brought.
Okay, so what’s the New Covenant equivalent of the storehouse? Under the New Covenant, there is no building designated as a temple. The temple of the Holy Spirit is the body of any born-again Christian.
At this point, I must clarify that I’m about to state my opinion. I cannot point to a specific chapter and verse and say, “It says right here . . .” But I think a fair exegesis of the word as a whole would support my opinion on this.
If the temple is the body of a Christian, then I believe anything we give to any born-again Christian or to any ministry run by born-again Christians for the sake of God’s work and His kingdom would be considered a tithe.
Note that I said for the sake of His work of His kingdom. My daughter is a born-again Christian, but giving her a gift just because I love her does not qualify as a tithe.
James said in verse 17 of the second chapter of his epistle that faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. He’s talking there about feeding the poor. I believe anything given in the spirit of what James is talking about is given for the sake of God’s work and His kingdom and would be considered a tithe.
There are many hundreds—maybe thousands—of ministries whose purposes are to minister God’s love and His kingdom to people. In my opinion, anything given to any such ministry qualifies as a tithe, but I also believe if there’s a brother or sister in your church who needs help, anything you give unto him or her is given unto God and His kingdom and qualifies as a tithe. To satisfy the IRS, you have to give it to the church and let the church help the person, but God doesn’t work for the IRS. I believe a direct gift from you to such a person qualifies as a tithe.
What do you think about where a gift must be given in order to qualify as a tithe?
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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.
For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.
Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.
Filed under: Christianity 101 Tagged: Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, James, Jesus, Malachi, Tithes, tithing, Works 
January 31, 2014
Writing Historical Fiction
As most of you know, my fiction work is primarily historical. At times, this makes for difficulties and potential embarrassments. Although it’s fiction, in order to give the author credibility, it can’t alter historical facts.
If you write science fiction or fantasy, you can pretty much make up the rules as you go. If, in your fantasy land, gravity pulls up instead of down, so be it. In your sci fi, if a spaceship flies faster than the speed of light, so be it. Well, those may be slightly extreme examples, but you get the point. You have a lot of latitude to make up your own world.
If you’re writing contemporary fiction, you pretty much know what’s going on in the world. For those things you don’t know, there’s a plethora of information available to keep you within the bounds of reality.
With historical fiction, one must be a bit more careful. Would a woman in the Old West carry a pistol? Where would she carry it? Did all women in that day wear long dresses with multitudes of petticoats, or did some wear jeans? These are a few of the things the historical fiction author must consider.
Most of us have a certain degree of general knowledge of various eras of history. At times, however, our general knowledge—or our belief we have such knowledge—can be a trap. Let me give you a couple of examples.
Before I wrote my novella series, Fancy, I wrote basically the same story several times as a novel. In all of these novels, I had Fancy growing up in Birmingham, Alabama. Imagine my chagrin when I discovered Birmingham was not there in the pre-Civil War days when she grew up. It was founded in 1871, and I had her born there in 1847. How embarrassing it would have been if I’d published it that way. I had to move her to Florence, Alabama, for historical accuracy.
At present, I’m working on the second volume of a three-novella series. In this story, I have my protagonist moving from Gum Pond (now Tupelo), Mississippi, to South Pass, Wyoming, in 1864. I had her join up with a California-bound wagon train just outside of St. Louis. Then I happened to stumble across the information that the wagon trains to the west coast were pretty much a thing of the past by that time. Another potential embarrassment.
Certainly, I’m writing a work of fiction. I can make up strange or ruthless characters. I can have Indian attacks. But I can’t move a 10,000 foot mountain to the middle of Nebraska or have ocean waves beating against the road in Kansas. Nor can I have an airplane land in front of the wagon. As a historical fiction writer, I can take a lot of license, but it must be within the realm of possibility. I must be careful with what I say took place.
What sort of near-misses or pitfalls have you experienced in your writing that would have embarrassed you if you hadn’t caught them?
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WANA: We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.
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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.
For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.
Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Advice, Authorship, Caring, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Historical Fiction, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help
January 28, 2014
Attaining Redemption
If you have not read the earlier posts in this series, find the “Categories” list in the right-hand column of this page and click on “Christianity 101.” This will pull up all the previous posts so you can read through them in order. Start with the earliest one.
The story of Ruth and Boaz is a familiar one to most Christians and Jews, but why did God see fit to include it in His Bible? Was He just giving us a sideline story as a transition between the era of the patriarchs and that of the kings?
You may recall that Ruth, a native of Moab, married one of Naomi’s sons. After her husband Elimelech and both of her sons died, Naomi decided to return to Israel. When Ruth announced she was going with her, Naomi discouraged her, because Naomi knew Ruth’s dark complexion would immediately brand her as a Moabite, and they were considered sort of the scum of the earth by Israelites. Undaunted, Ruth made one of the most famous statements in the Bible: “. . . where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God, my God.” [Ruth 1:16]
When they arrived in Israel, they faced poverty. Neither woman had much in the way of worldly goods or income, so Ruth told Naomi she would go glean in the fields for food. When the farmers harvested their crops, they had to leave the corners of their fields so anyone poor and hungry could pick what was left, and this is what Ruth set out to do.
The field where she started belonged to a wealthy farmer named Boaz, who was a kinsman of her late father-in-law, Elimelech, and when she began to glean, Boaz noticed her. Even though her dark skin branded her as a Moabite, she was a lovely young woman, and Boaz was entranced by her beauty. He urged her to return to his fields for all her gleaning, and he instructed his men to leave extra grain wherever she worked, making her job easier and providing more food for her and Naomi. Seeing the extra grain, Naomi asked Ruth whose field she worked in, and upon hearing that it belonged to Boaz she explained that he was kin to them.
As the harvest drew to a close, Naomi knew Boaz would spend the night on the threshing floor with his barley, so she told Ruth to go to him. She had her dress her best and told her to slip into his blankets at his feet.
According to Mosaic law, when a woman was widowed, it became the duty of her late husband’s closest kinsman to redeem her, to marry her and provide for her. Naomi explained all this to Ruth in her instructions.
When Boaz felt Ruth crawl under his blanket, he asked who was there. She identified herself and said, “. . . spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative.” [Ruth 3:9]
Already enthralled with her beauty, Boaz was excited about her request and promised to fulfill it, but he said there was one problem. There was one man who was a closer relative than he, and marrying Ruth fell to this other man first.
The following morning, Boaz went into the city and into the space between the inner and outer walls where men met. Before long this other relative came along, and Boaz asked him to step aside so he could speak to him. Then he asked ten other men of the city to sit with them, and he brought up his business, reminding the man that he was Ruth’s closest kin and, under the law, obligated to redeem (marry) her.
The man recoiled at the thought. He knew nothing about Ruth except that she was a Moabite, and he was afraid marrying her might harm his reputation, so he declined. The law required that if the closest relative refused to redeem a widow, he had to remove his shoe and hand it to the next relative, so this man removed his sandal and handed it to Boaz, telling him to redeem her.
This was exactly what Boaz thought would happen and what he hoped would happen. Ruth would now be his. He didn’t care about her ethnic background, and he redeemed her in marriage, taking both her and Naomi into his household.
This woman was born an outsider. Not an Israelite, she was looked down upon and not considered fit to be treated as family. Her closest relative couldn’t redeem her, but because of the willingness of Boaz, she was adopted into the family of Israel and became the great-grandmother of David and a part of the lineage of Jesus.
What a beautiful picture of need and redemption!
We are like Ruth. We were all born as outsiders to the family of God. We all needed to be redeemed in order to become part of that family.
Like Ruth, we all have a close kinsman that could not redeem us. Our closest kinsman was the law. It preceded Jesus by hundreds of years, putting it first in line. But the law is impotent. It can show us our need for redemption, but it cannot provide it.
The law had to take its shoe off and hand it to Jesus. Where the law failed, Jesus stepped in and succeeded. He provided our redemption and our adoption into God’s family. Because of the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we who submit to Him and believe are all sons of the Father.
Note that Ruth didn’t perform any rituals to “please” Boaz. She wore no talisman. She intoned no chants. She merely placed herself at his feet and submitted herself to him.
That’s all Jesus expects of us. No religious ceremonies. No lists of do’s and dont’s. He just wants us to place ourselves at His feet and submit ourselves to Him. He does all the rest.
How do you feel when someone tells you you have to do this or can’t do that in order to be a “real” Christian?
What do you think Paul meant in Romans 7:4 when he said . . . my brothers, you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ . . .
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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.
For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.
Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.
Filed under: Christianity 101 Tagged: Boaz, Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, Jesus, Naomi, Ruth, Works 
January 24, 2014
Life’s Little Messes
My apologies to the author of the following statement: Life is messy. Writing takes the focus off the mess and puts it to good use. I don’t recall if I saw it on Facebook or Twitter or where. I’d attribute it to the author if I knew. It took awhile for the impact of the statement to hit me, and by then it was too late to trace where it came from.
The statement may have been made tongue-in-cheek. It sounds a little like the sort of thing we writers say to kid one another about our craft.
Tongue-in-cheek or not, it is truly a meaningful thought. Think about what has gone on in your life today, or this week. Did everything flow smoothly from one item of your life to the next? I doubt it.
The newspaper was late. You forgot to set the coffeemaker to come on this morning, so you had to wait for it. One of the kids left a bicycle in the driveway behind your car, and you didn’t see it.
Just think back. I’m sure you can come up with numerous little things that did not go as you wanted or expected. Life is messy.
The old saying, when life deals you a lemon, make lemonade, is what we’re talking about here. Well, I don’t like lemonade, but you get the idea.
If you have a couple of kids who manage to outmaneuver you most of the time, write a book about how one of them got his tongue stuck on the frozen minivan. Look for the humor in things that happen to you and write a book or a blog about it. Or look at the deep life lessons you learned from some experience and write about that.
If life were all smooth sailing, where would we get our ideas for blogs and books and other writing? We might have to steal an idea from another writer as I did for this post.
What has happened to you lately that would make a good story for a blog or a book or at least a short story? What do you do when these little mishaps come up?
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WANA: We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.
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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.
For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.
Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Advice, Authorship, Caring, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help
