Free Sunday School Lesson for pre teens, teens, and older on Good Intentions vs Good Actions: the story of Ruth and Orpah.
Turn to the book of Ruth (King James Version [KJV])
Have you ever planned to do something good, but never followed through? You planned to witness, read a Proverb every day, leave gospel tracts in the bathroom, but you never did?
Good intentions don’t matter. If you didn’t do it, it doesn’t matter. Intentions mean nothing.
Ruth 1:10 KJV – Orpah fully intended on going with Naomi, her mother-in-law. She wept and pleaded, but in the end, she didn’t do it.
Why did Orpah go back? We don’t know. The Bible doesn’t say.
- Was it sin? This is the explanation a lot of preachers and teachers give. Ruth chose God, and Orpah chose the world. She knew what she needed to do, but she went back to what she thought was safe and familiar. She chose not to leave her Moabite gods and beliefs to serve the true God of Israel
- Was she scared? Did she fear bandits hiding in the rocks, or fear the unknown future that would result from leaving her homeland.
- Did she want a family? A widow starting over in a land that did not like Moabites (or anyone who wasn’t a Jew, for that matter) did not have much of a chance of finding a husband, especially if she had already been married.
Neither Ruth nor Orpah knew what would happen. Both had good intentions, but only Ruth followed through.
Orpah did what most people do. She gave in to Naomi’s arguments. She feared what people would think of her. Orpah feared she wouldn’t get the same opportunities or as comfortable a life. So, she ignored her good intentions, just like we do most of the time.
- Do you plan to tell this person about Jesus?
- Do you plan to one day read the Bible daily?
- Do you plan to one day do something for God?
Here’s the hard truth. You won’t.
If God has laid something on your heart right now, or if there is something that you know is the right thing to do right now, and you aren’t doing it, you never will. That conviction or good intention that you are putting on the back burner is eventually going to go away, and it will never get done.
As Christians, we’re very good at finding excuses.
- I’m too young. God will send someone else.
- I don’t have the right skills. God will send someone else.
- I don’t have the right opportunity or tools. God will send someone else.
Jeremiah 1:5-9 KJV – Jeremiah thought that he was too young. God said he wasn’t.
Exodus 4:10-12 KJV – Moses said he didn’t have the right social skills or talking skills to do what God commanded. God said he was the one who made man’s mouth and would help Moses.
Judges 5:6, 3:31 KJV – The highways were deserted because the Philistines robbed or killed anyone who came by. Shamgar only had an ox-goad (a sharp stick) and he took on 600 men. How? He did what he could with the opportunity that God gave him, and God did the rest.
God does not take kindly to excuses because, as the God of the universe, he knows what we are capable of, and he knows what he is capable of. Of course, we feel insecure and like we don’t have the right skills or the right opportunity. So, are we just going to ignore what God says because we aren’t trusting him?
Main point of lesson:
- You have something you can do for God now.
- Don’t say “Someday…” or “One of these days…” Proverbs 17:24 KJV – Wisdom is following God, but fools spend their lives dreaming about what could happen. They never do anything.
- If you can’t start right now, at this age, with what you have (reading the Bible and praying daily) then God will never trust you with more (Luke 16:10 KJV)
- You can’t do what you can’t do, but you can do what you can do, and if you’ll do what you can now, God will do the rest.
Ruth followed through with her good intentions, and God took care of her. He gave her a husband, he put her in the line of Christ, and he made a book in the Bible about her.
Good intentions mean nothing, but if we follow through with them, God will reward us.
If you enjoyed this free Sunday school lesson on Good Intentions vs Good Actions: the story of Ruth and Orpah, check out some other free bible lessons from this site!