Welcome to the Daily Disciple podcast, where we seek daily to be with and to become like Jesus, our teacher. Hello everyone, and welcome to the Daily Disciple podcast. My name is Calvin, and I get to be your host today. And the title of the podcast today is The Stand.
Or it might be Determined, but I think that I've used that title before. So anyway, we're going to be going, we're going to go with The Stand. But we're going to be going through the Old Testament book of Ruth today, so you can turn there in your Bibles or your tablets, your phones. And we're going to be discussing one of the most seemingly difficult things that we have to deal with in our generation, in our time, which is going against the grain, going against the grain.
And that might be what the title actually is of the podcast. Going against the grain. And that's in regards to the current worldview that we live in. And that can be very problematic because we can receive harsh criticism or backlash when you don't side with public opinion.
And as Christians living in this modern age, there are several aspects that we should consider taking a stand about because of the current worldview. Now the gap is widening more and more when it comes to procreation. And we know that that is a hot and has been a hot topic. Science wants to dismantle some of our belief systems, and they kind of do that in the form of theories.
And that's their way of taking a stand. And we have as Christians, we have many Christians in the world of science and technology that are discussing things and breaking down walls and barriers that have been up for so long. And talking about things that have to do with the human discussion and our anatomy and how and where we were created. We have scientists that are choosing to take a stand for truth and for human rights.
And on an extremely lighter note, I once remember in my life when I was a young man on a basketball team, I had to take a stand against my basketball coach because he had an issue with one of our teammates. And I just sensed at the moment that it was more of a personal issue than it was something that had to do with the game of basketball. And something compelled me to stand with my fellow teammate, you know, my brother on the court. And I stood up and I spoke about it.
And it wasn't an easy thing to do, but it actually ended up repairing the situation. And it gives me confidence now because I wasn't confident in it then. I didn't know how it was gonna turn out, but it gives me confidence now for the future or back then, it gave me confidence for the future doing things, standing up for people, standing up for my rights, taking a stand for issues. And even as parents, we often have an opportunity to experience this new worldview that's going on from our children's perspective.
You know, they're on the front lines when it comes to dealing with the world and they're gonna learn fast as to how to exercise these muscles so that they can either yield and conform or so that they can take a stand. You know, and God has placed the dilemmas and the moral and ethics in us, that dilemma of how we deal with it so that we can understand the why as to stand against the things in life. Well, primarily the evil things. But sometimes it's not clearly evil.
It's not clearly dark. It's not just like procreation. But what about when taking a stand has more to do with what God is calling you into? And it's more than just taking sides.
And because it's from God, he's not gonna even contradict himself in the least, but he might contradict the worldview. And what he may be asking you to take a stance on may contradict the ideals of the people around you. And how often is God intricately working out things in our lives as his children, which we may not necessarily, you know, understand, or we may not necessarily understand in the way that he is conducting it. But you'll see things moving and you're forced to take a stand in a situation that someone might not see the same way as you because God is moving in you.
But because you have taken that stand, you feel that compulsion, that determination to take a stand for what's right. And I think that this is a beautiful story and that's what this is about. And it truly examines the human condition. So let's read this short passage in this powerful book of Ruth.
We're gonna be in chapter one and we're only gonna be reading two verses from verses 16 to 18. But Ruth and Orpah, they were two married daughter-in-laws to a woman named Naomi and her husband and two sons had both become sick and had died and had left them all as widows, which was a very difficult thing to deal with in that era. Well, in any era for that matter, but particularly in that time, we weren't in a developed nation. Her sons and their wives were still very young when this occurred.
So Naomi had the idea and told them that they should just go back home to their families so that they could even have a possibility to eventually remarry again or to be someplace safe under their parents' house. They wouldn't have to worry for things like what Naomi was envisioning for herself having to worry for her future. They didn't have any children that were conceived. So Naomi was truly thinking of the best interest of the young women, both of the young women.
So let's take up and we'll start reading in chapter 1 from verse 16 to 18. But Ruth replied, 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 I die, where you die, I will die. And there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be ever so severely if even death separates you and me.
When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined, that Ruth took a stand to go with her, she stopped urging her. Now, if you go on and continue to read this fascinating story, you will find that God used the heart and the faithfulness of this young woman and her taking a stand, her being determined in virtue, which culminates in an amazing story of God establishing the bloodline which leads to the birth of King David, which ultimately leads to the bloodline to the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, what better story would you want to read? So I would encourage everyone to read.
But this stand that Ruth took that day, just a regular girl, young lady, became a stand that would change the world. And I'm sure, I'm positive that that's not what she was thinking at that time. She was just following her heart. So with not too heavy of a burden placed on you, what is God calling you to take a stand on today?
Maybe not today, but in this season of your life, or maybe there was a previous thing that he had called you into in a different season of your life, but you remember as soon as you heard these words. Let's just think of Jesus calling us into something today, calling you and I into something bigger than ourselves. So don't be afraid, be determined and take a stand that the enemy desperately doesn't want you to take. And that might be the most important thing for us to realize when we're in those situations.
This is a stand that the enemy does not want you to take. But as always, Jesus leaves us with our own decisions and the choice is yours. So I encourage you, I encourage all of us today because this is something that affects us all to pray for strength and integrity and virtue to be able to take a stand when God calls us to. Take care, friends.
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