Men
An Ambassador represents his nation & not himself. Our God is seeking for outstanding men.
As a male man, you are supposed to be representing God in your home, Community & wherever you find yourself.
The word outstanding means prominent; distinguished, striking:. It also means continuing in existence.
I must say God is not just seeking for men in bodily figure but men that will stand out for Him in this generation. Men who will cause God’s name to spread from one generation to generation.
Men who will jeopardise their vision, mission, academic, ambition, career & etc for the Excellency of God.
God created the man & put him in a garden to tend. What is that garden God has put you in to tend? Are you tending your wife, child & vocation properly?
As you go through this article I pray that God will call forth the man in you. May you begin to receive grace from God to stand out for God even in this generation in Jesus name.
Have there ever been men who stood for God in their own generation before ours? What was their encounter? Let’s go to the Lord prayerfully as He challenge our lives as men as we look at the Life of Boaz as an out standing man.
One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. In the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet. "Who are you?" he asked. "I am your servant Ruth," she said. "Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer." "The LORD bless you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character. Although it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I. Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning." Ruth 3:1-3,9-13
The story in the above scripture is a common story all believers are familiar with. What are the issues God wants to draw our attention to?
Ruth was a Moabitess who got married to Mahlon- an Israelite. She had no child for this man before he died.
Eventually the mother in-law who was the only surviving member of her late husband’s family as far as she knows wass going back to her home country & Ruth decided to go with her.
Having been with her mother in-law for quite sometimes after their return to Bethlehem, her mother in-law realised that Boaz Whom Ruth glean from his field is their next of kin & automatically the lot fell on Boaz to redeem Ruth.
Ruth as we know was a Moabitess, we can say an unbeliever who now came to know the Lord. She went to Boaz according to her mother in-law to ask the family redeemer to take her up according to tradition.
The issue God wants to bring to our attention as men is from the life of Boaz. What was Boaz’s response to this divine responsibility that suddenly fell on him?
I will do for you all you ask. Boaz did not reject the responsibility even though it was not what he prepared for, he accepted the responsibility.
The other issue is that there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than Boaz and Boaz response was “if he wants to redeem, good; let him redeem. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it”.
What a challenge for our lives as men. Boaz was ready to redeem if not for the other kinsman who was of a better right to redeem Ruth. He did not want to take another man’s inheritance unlawfully.
Can God count on you as a man? The problem we are seeing in our generation is a lack of men who will arise to redeem the father’s inheritance.
Another key issue from Boaz’s life is the fact that He did not defile himself with Ruth who came to him. It could have been an opportunity for him to defile the woman saying she was the one who came to him at the middle of the night.
This is another challenge for our lives as men. Can God entrust into your hands a woman at anytime of the day. Would you not say she dressed seductively or she came to me when my wife was not at home?
Another issue is the nearest kinsman.
Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." So he went over and sat down. Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and they did so. Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line." "I will redeem it," he said. Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property." At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it." (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel. So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal.
He was in a better position than Boaz to redeem Ruth, but his personal ambition, goal, property will not allow him to do so.
He missed out of what could have placed him in the eternal scroll of heaven. The scripture did not tell us his name but we know he was the nearest kinsman than Boaz.
Here is the cross of the matter, if all Boaz was asking this man to buy is the land it would have being acceptable by this family redeemer. Acquisition of wealth & property is a common issue with the male man. Many men have jeopardised God’s purpose for their lives, home & generation in order to gather earthly things.
This family redeemer was ready to redeem the land but the moment he was told "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property His response changed.
If the issue was just to buy the land for himself it would have being okay but to marry Ruth in order to keep the name of the dead he will never agree with it. He responded "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."
His concern was his own estate & nothing else. He was ready to pay any price to secure more estate for himself but not seeing to the extension of the generation of Elimelech his kinsman.
Dear brother how has this related to you? Are you satisfied to see yourself excelling in wealth, career, property, ministry when the soul of your kinsman is not redeemed?
You do not care what becomes of any other as long as you are excelling in your little venture.
Many men have missed out of what God would have used them for in their generation because of selfish ambition & pursuit. Men who will never claim to be believers because of the nature of their work. They find it easy to adapt to any environment they find themselves as long as it will secure their estate, meanwhile the inheritance of the father is wasting away.
Are you not amongst men who will never speak out for God so they can continue to be in their position of influence & place of work? Men who are ready to sell their birth right for a morsel of pottage.
Has your own response to a call to discipleship is “because I might endanger my own estate”?
This is another great privilege for you to come to term with the Lord as a male man that He may position you back in His divine plan for your life.
What our generation needs are men who Knows their purpose of living is to be a pleasure unto the Lord in the land of the living.
Heavens agenda is to raise men who will proclaim the generation of Christ as it was in the story of Boaz & Ruth. The whole essence of Boaz marrying Ruth was to raise a son for the dead.
All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all. To fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? Is53:6-8 NASV
Would you not consider the jeopardising of your ambition, vision, goal & pursuit for the proclaiming of Christ? He died for you & for the many that are still wasting away in the world. Would you not proclaim his generation in your family, work place, community & nation or you will be like the family redeemer who chose the safety of his estate?
The family redeemer took off his shoe in order to give Boaz the go ahead to purchase the land & Ruth.
He stepped out of God’s divine platform for his elevation in life. He stepped out of his position to bringforth children who will matter in heavenly issues. He stepped out of being a real Israelite in deed to a wife. He stepped out of God’s purpose to pursue chaff. He has forgotten that a man's life consist not in the abundance of the things which he possessed. Luke 12:15
Brother, have you not given your own right away as well? Have you not come off your right and responsibility to be a father to your children & a real husband to your wife while you run helter skelter to make money saying the family must eat?
God expectation on you as the head of the family is not to just provide shelter & food for your family but to give them an identity that goes beyond your family name. Does your family have any place in God? Do you bring to the attention of your child & wife the need to always be at the family altar?
When last did you call your wife & children & share the word of God with them? When last did you sit your family down to share with them God’s faithfulness again in meeting your need?
Have you not taught your family the attitude of “if you do not work you do not eat”?
What legacy are you giving to your family? The family kinsman chose his estate & that was the last we heard of him. He has no place in the heavenly agenda neither did we hear of him & his estate. I pray yours shall not be so in Jesus name.
Dear brother, Jesus said “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” Matt19:29.
It’s only those who has forsaken all that are able to be his disciple.
So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Luke14:33
Back to Boaz
Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses!" So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. Ruth 4:110, 13, 17.
This is a big issue to us as men. Boaz called the meeting of the elders and people to bear witness that what he was about to do was legal & not that he was stepping into another man’s property unlawfully.
The motive behind Boaz’s action is a challenge to my soul. He was taking all these steps not to make himself great but look at his motive [that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records.]
He acquired the property and Ruth to maintain the name of the dead with his property, He was not taking the step in order to acquire the dead man’s property, but to see that the name of the dead does not disappear from among his family or from the town records.
What do we see in our generation? Men who will start ministry in order to attract crowd to themselves, some to make themselves known and put a tag to whatever they are doing as theirs. We see in our days how men will call meetings & tag “A night of wonders, miracles, deliverance & etc with their name. We see big posters of men who are supposedly men of God on Buses, T.V & the internet.
Boaz stood out for the extension of Elimelech’s name & not his own name & heaven positioned him in a lineage that exists even till this generation- that of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Brother this is an issue that no one can answer for you. Are you into ministry, career, Community in order to extend your territory? What is the motive behind your going up and down? A man who will stand out for God in this generation is a man who will do all he will do on the face of the earth for the Excellency of Christ and Him alone.
Men as such may be called foolish but heaven reckon with such men and their names are never written off, both in heaven and even in many generations to come.
Will the life of a man like Boaz be a path for you to thread on? Boaz till today appears even in the New Testament, why, because he stood for the purpose of God when men of his kind fall out of God’s purpose to acquire fame, wealth & etc. A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Matthew 1:1,5b.
Would you not allow God to make you an outstanding man in this generation? The coming Revival to the Church & Nations will require men who will give up their selfish ambition and goals for the extension of God’s glory even to the generation to come.
Outstanding men are required by God and heaven is ready to back them up.
Do not miss a divine opportunity like the other family redeemer. May grace abound unto you to be an outstanding man for God and His purpose in this generation, Amen!
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