Psalm 119:93 I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.

It sounds like all you have to do is read your bible and your life will be forever changed. OK in some ways that is absolutely true. I also read Fred Reinfeld’s The Complete Chess Course and my life was changed forever. For others it might have been The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Various books awaken within people an interest which they had never before contemplated. A sense of coming alive is found in giving a person some passion or purpose in life.

John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

In one sense words can make you feel alive, awaken something in you that you did not know existed. This is the flesh feeling. All feelings are fleeting as they are born of emotional satisfaction. Our emotions are dependent upon circumstance. External influences can and do change our emotions. There is no lasting effect in mere words.

The truest meaning of quicken is the restoration of what was lost. Only the Holy Spirit can restore your soul to a right relationship with God. We lost that in the garden due to the sin of one man, Adam. It was not something we did to lose that right standing. In that same sense there is nothing we can do to restore that right standing. It is the purview of God to restore thru the power of the Holy Spirit.

Reading your bible may make you feel good, but it does not make you good.

Philippians 3:9 And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith. AMPC

Ruth 1:8 And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.

Here begins a lesson on memories. Ruth’s husband has died and she clings to Naomi and her God and her people. As I see the actions of Ruth through her telling I cannot help but think that the life she had with her husband must have been good for her. The Lord had dealt kindly with her indicates to me a life that was good.

She soon meets Boaz and Boaz makes life easier for her. Read for yourself those things that Boaz did for her. It was a kindness he did not have to extend. Eventually they marry and have a son in the lineage of Jesus Christ. What a blessing to be taken out of Moab and all that it means and enter into this new life.

In this telling I find not one mention of the life she had with her first husband. She did not indicate any sorrow in the life that she lost nor used it to plead her case in the new life she sought. I find this to be an inspiration to me not to carry the memories of an old life into my new life. If I will refrain from dragging up my old life in this new life, it will help solidify the bond I have in this new life in Christ.

It is noteworthy to read and understand the actions of Boaz as he set a prime example of redemption before us to understand why our Lord redeems us.

Examples are for learning.