Stubborn Love

Social commentators have called our time as the age of loneliness. Many people do not have someone out of their immediate family to share personal concerns with. How have you experienced or observed this reality of our age? What challenges to friendship stand out to you that are common to our current situation?

Read Ruth 1:6-18. What do you observe about God from this passage being in the Bible? What does this passage teach us about who God is, what he cares about, and how he cares for his people? Anything that surprises you or sparks questions? Who do you identify with in this story?

In what ways do you observe Naomi loving Orpah and Ruth? What would this love cost Naomi? What is Naomi’s motivation?

In verse 14, we are told Ruth clung to Naomi. This is a physical embodiment of commitment – of hesed love that reflects loyalty, steadfast, stubborn love without an exit strategy. What does commitment look like in this passage? What does commitment look like in our friendships? What challenges are there to this level of steadfast love for one another?

The sermon mentioned two ideas for being a friend who loves: risk instead of retreat and be active instead of passive. How do these ideas take on flesh in the relationship of Naomi and Ruth? How have you witnessed these ideas done well in or around your life? How might practicing these impact your practice of friendship?

Naomi receives Ruth’s love in return. This points to the greater gift of committed love that we receive in Jesus’s death and resurrection for our salvation. How does seeing your salvation in Jesus as an act of true and perfect friendship equip you to reject loneliness and be a friend to others?