Everybody wants to belong. But Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi, were outsiders. Both were widows, alone in a foreign land. Naomi had buried a husband and two sons in Moab. So she did all she knew to do—she tucked away her grief, packed her bags, and went back home to Bethlehem. Ruth, from Moab, gave up her family and homeland to go with Naomi.

But when they arrived, neither Naomi nor Ruth could own the property that had belonged to their husbands. They were dependent on Naomi’s male relatives to take care of them. So the men gathered at the city gate, and the nearest kinsman was offered the right to redeem the property—including all its liabilities. “I want to redeem it” the kinsman responded (Ruth 4:4 HCSB). But when he heard that Ruth went with the deal, he changed his mind.

Ruth: first widowed, now rejected by a man who she hoped would take care of her. She longed to belong.

Then Boaz stepped into her life. “I will also acquire Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife” (Ruth 4:10 HCSB).

Boaz fulfilled Ruth’s longing with belonging.

We, like Ruth, long to belong. And as Boaz made Ruth his family, God chooses us to be His family. We “who once were not a people . . . are now the people of God” (1 Peter 2:10 NKJV). As Boaz became Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer, Jesus has become our Redeemer!

That means Jesus takes all your liabilities and makes them His own. His love makes you family. Thank God today for making you His own, and remember that even if you feel alone or like an outsider, you are loved by your Redeemer and you belong to Him forever.

Respond to God’s beautiful love for you by telling Him today, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay” (Ruth 1:16).