Written by Uyoyou Christiana
Charles-Iyoha
Why?
People are assets, referred to in
corporations as either human resources or human capital. Great corporations,
families, communities and nations spend fortunes to invest in their human capital.
Investing in human capital development is wisdom, the strength of any family,
community, nation and corporation is the quality of human capital in it.
People are assets, in point of fact
the greatest assets you can think of after your salvation by faith in Christ
Jesus. This is because the people you invest in today are the ones who will be
there for you tomorrow. Ruth for instance chose to invest in Naomi even when
Naomi had nothing to offer in return. Naomi had no sons that would marry her;
Naomi had no financial resources to meet their very basic of needs yet Ruth
chose Naomi over Moab, her homeland which appeared to offer many pleasant
opportunities; she could live in her family home if she chose not to remarry;
there were men there who knew her and could ask for her hand in marriage
considering that she was a young widow. Her choice then to go with Naomi who in
the face of every physical appearance had nothing was like sentencing herself
to a life of penury in addition to being an old maid. But as future events
played out; it turned out that Ruth saw into the future and tapped into it or
she was just following the leading of the God she chose to serve by associating
with Naomi.
Ruth and Naomi arrived in Bethlehem
at harvest time and considering that they were not there at planting season,
they had nothing of their own to harvest so they resorted to gleaning, a law
which allowed strangers and the vulnerable as well as the poor to up sheaves
left on purpose by farm owners and harvesters for such people. Naomi was
apparently not strong enough for much physical labor; so Ruth went into the
fields on a daily basis to glean for the food they required.
Again, directed and guided by the
unseen hand of God, she chose to glean in the fields of Boaz, a man she did not
even know was their close relative. Ruth gleaned on a daily basis, harvesting
what they required for food so that they did not lack bread. But unknown to
Ruth and even Naomi at that point in time, Ruth was not just directed to Boaz’
farm for bread alone. Her steps were divinely directed to Boaz’ farm for divine
purposes well beyond bread. Fortunately all of that unfolded when Naomi
suddenly realized that she could repay the kindness generosity of Ruth by
tapping into the law of near kinsman ship which made it mandatory for near
kinsmen to marry the widows of their late kinsmen. So Naomi schooled Ruth in
the process (Ruth Chapter 3 verses 1 to 18) and Ruth went to work. Needless to
say, Ruth became the wife of Boaz and joint owner of the fields she gleaned in
to put bread on the table for her and Naomi. Significantly, she also became the
mother of Obed, the father of Jesse who gave birth to David, the ancestor of
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Beloved, Naomi returned to
Bethlehem bitter and supposedly empty and even opted to be called Marah which
means bitterness. But the young woman Ruth who chose to invest her life in
Naomi brought Naomi untold happiness when Naomi also chose to invest in Ruth by
finding Ruth a husband and a home. Instructively, Naomi, did not go to
negotiate with Boaz or send emissaries to Boaz to marry Ruth. Rather, Naomi
schooled Ruth on what to do to become Boaz’ wife. And significantly, Ruth was
teachable. She carried out Naomi’s instructions to the letter. This implies
that investing in people is not only financial and material. It could be
teaching people what to do to get what they want; to be where God wants them to
be in life; to fulfill divine purpose, etc. it could also be praying fervently
for them or even a multi mix -
financial, material, spiritual, teaching, etc.
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