But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!”
(Ruth 1:16-17 NLT)
Naomi lost all that was dear to her–her husband and two sons. With nothing left to offer her two Moabite daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, Naomi urged them to return to their own families. Realizing she had nothing to gain from her relationship to Naomi, Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye and headed back to her people and gods. But Ruth didn’t. As a true friend (thereby living up to her name), Ruth continued to cling to her desolate mother-in-law. She loved Naomi for who she was and not for what she could offer, and her selfless devotion was greatly rewarded. Ruth later remarried and had a son named Obed, who became the grandfather of King David, the great Israelite king, and thus an ancestor of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.
A true friend loves you for who you are not for what you can give.
Rising with the Son 