* A tree is known by its fruit.
* The decisions you make today will affect your future, for positive or negative.
* The problem is that fruit takes time to show up!
* In the meantime, you need
* Determination
* Discipline
* Diligence
* We see this in the life of Ruth, and the opposite in the life of Orpah.
* Backstory - An Israelite, Elimelech, moved to Moab during a time of famine in Israel.
* Naomi was his wife - Ruth and Orpah his daughters-in-law.
* He died. Then his boys died. It was time for Naomi to go back to Israel.
* But she couldn’t go back with Moabite daughters-in-law, showing a mixed marriage.
* Orpah agreed to stay, but Ruth didn’t.
* Orpah went back to her former way of life, but Ruth broke from her past.
* Vs 14-18 - Ruth clung to Naomi, having faith in her God!
* God was pleased with her faith!
* ** Let’s look at the fruit of Ruth’s decision.
* Matthew 1:5 - Ruth was in the genealogy of Jesus.
* She married Boaz, who’s mother was RAHAB!
* She had Obed, who had Jesse, who had DAVID!
* ** Let’s look at the fruit of Orpah’s decision (according to the Talmud and an ancient commentary called a Midrash).
* To start, Ruth and Orpah were the daughters of King Eglon (the fat king of Moab that Ehud killed with a dagger).
* They were the granddaughters of Balak (who hired Balaam to curse the Israelites).
* Orpah and Ruth both had the same upbringing, but two very different reactions to their past.
* When Orpah left Naomi, she became the antagonist of Ruth in the story.
* All the rabbis spoke of her negatively, that she “turned her back on Naomi and Naomi’s God.”
* As a result, she prostituted herself, ultimately bearing four famous sons.
* Their names - Ishibibnob, Saph, Lahmi, and …GOLIATH!
* When you see the most famous battle in the Bible (David and Goliath) you can now see it as the result of decisions made years prior that echoed into eternity!
* So be faithful today - be determined, disciplined, and diligent - and you will have the same fruit to show as Ruth.