One Decision Can Determine Your Entire Legacy

Yesterday we looked at the decisions made by Naomi's two daughter-in-laws, one name Orpah, and the other named Ruth. Their widowed mother-in-law had made the decision to return to Judah. She encouraged her two Moabite daughter-in-laws to remain in Moab and try to find new husbands who could provide for them. And the two girls made different decisions.

Orpah decided to stay in Moab. Ruth decided to go with Naomi to Bethlehem. And here is the deal about their decisions. Even though, at the time, they appeared to be fairly insignificant decisions, in fact, these decisions determined the legacy of the two daughter-in-laws for 3000 years. Most of us have heard of Ruth. I mean, at the very least, there is a book in the Bible written about her. Few of us have ever heard of Orpah.

These two young women were faced with a decision we all have to eventually make. And whether or not they knew the impact their choices would be afterwards, they both had to answer these questions. So do you and I: "In which country are you going to live...Moab? or Judah? Who will you serve? Where do your loyalties lie?" You must eventually answer those three questions. Ruth declared to Naomi in Ruth 1: 16, 17: “Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

When you take the journey from bad to better, you will encounter moments of decision in which you determine which direction you will take, and where your future will be. Not everyone will be able to take that journey with you, so you'll have to decide where your loyalties lie. Ruth chose Bethlehem over Moab. She said to Naomi, “Your home is my home, your people are my people, your God is my God.” Not everyone will take the journey with you, so when you reach that moment of decision, you can be sure it will be your decision. No one can make it for you.