Today's Scripture Reading (May 1, 2025): Ruth 3
Do you remember picking sides for teams at school? Pick two people of equal sports ability (often, it seemed like they were the most talented ones), and then they would alternate picking people. Many years ago, I had the opportunity to watch an interview with several professional athletes, and one of the questions asked of them was about when they were chosen for school pickup games. Some, not surprisingly for members of a professional sports team, were picked first. However, it seemed like many players were picked in the middle of the pack, which surprised me. I was often picked in the middle of the pack, and the Seattle Seahawks have yet to call me into service on their defensive line.
There is an honor in being picked first and a dishonor in being picked last. When we used to do it, at the end of the process, we would usually arbitrarily assign the players to each team or give those left to one side or the other. It is as if we are saying, "You know what? We don't care about these people. You take them." You really don't matter.
If you have been through marriage counseling with me, this is something that we talk about. If you have heard me preach at a wedding, this is one of my usual points. Almost every couple I have ever counseled has said that the person to whom they were going to get married was the only one with whom they could be happy. The only one? Out of 4 billion people of the appropriate gender, they are the only one? I have heard sermons where the speaker instructed young men and women to pray for the one God is preparing for them to marry as if God is directing them to that one he has for them. Really? The one?
Eventually, reality will intrude on our fantasy of "the one." When you think you have found the one you have been praying for and trouble hits (and trust me, it will), you might conclude that while God or fate still has one person he has prepared for you, you married the wrong one. And so, it is God's will that you get a divorce so that he can connect you with the one. If I believe that there is one person that God created for me, then my job becomes finding that proverbial needle in the haystack.
Instead, I believe that there were several people to whom I could have been happily married. It might surprise you to know that I can even name a few of them. But I chose a girl named Nelda from Victoria, Canada. She was in the place of honor of being chosen first, and for some unknown reason, she chose me. I have made a choice. And when things get tough, it isn't that I picked the wrong person or missed the one. I made a choice and she was it. And I have promised to stick with that choice in good times and bad.
Love makes the first move, but love is also a choice. We choose to love. We hope that love is returned, but that isn't the most important thing. We have chosen to love, and therefore, we will love.
Ruth was making a choice. Boaz remarks that Ruth has not run after other men, younger men, whether they are rich or poor. Boaz understands that Ruth has honored him by choosing him first; of all the men that Ruth could have chosen, Boaz is her choice.
The Bible is a story about God's choice. In love, God chooses us. The king is enthralled with your beauty, and he chose you first. You are his choice.
As I think of that beach scene between Jesus and Peter that John tells at the close of his gospel, it is a message about choice that I hear. As Jesus walks with Peter, he has an essential message for the one who denied knowing him on the way to the cross. No matter what you have done, no matter how you have failed, or how you have forgotten me, I still chose you first. Peter, do you remember the day I chose you? It was a day just like today; you had been out on the lake fishing and not catching anything. Do you remember what I said? It was the same thing I told you today: throw the net on the other side of the boat. And just like today, you caught fish. And then I asked you to follow me. I chose you.
I don't know what is going on in your life today, but God is still in the business of choosing, and he is choosing you, regardless of what you might think disqualifies you from that choice. God gives you the honor of being his choice, not because he has to, but because he values you.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ruth 4
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