God is For You!

God’s forgiveness is total…God loves you.  He is not up there in heaven with a book of “today she did this bad thing…today she did this good thing…”  He is portrayed that way, but that is not correct.  The Bible tells us that those who are in Jesus are blameless in the sight of God.

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Colossians 1:21-23 (NIV)

²¹ Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of  your evil behavior. ²² But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— ²³ if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

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There is nothing that we can do other than to accept the sacrifice of Jesus which will save us from our sin.  It is Jesus plus nothing for our salvation.  Faith in Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection from the dead are what saves us….

Another way to put this is: if you are in a restaurant and you go to pay the bill and you are told.  The bill has already been taken care of in full.  What are you going to do?  Are you going to reject that someone has already paid your bill and insist on paying it again yourself?!! Of course not!!  The thing is we do this all the time when it comes to Jesus.  He paid the bill for our sin, yet we are still running around in life trying to “be good enough” and “do enough good things” to make up for our bad things, our sins.

Why are we doing this?  Isn’t it rather insulting to both Jesus’ sacrifice, and to God, himself?  We are being awfully full of ourselves to be thinking that we are capable of paying our own bill, don’t you think?!  We don’t even fully understand what all is even on the bill, yet.  Much less have the capacity to take care of it.

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Romans 11:33

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

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There are so many things that we have done which, if we understood them, we would be so upset that we had done them.  We don’t even understand all of the harm we have caused to others in our lives…there are so many day to day things that God covers us from seeing about ourselves in order to protect us from the burden.  Basically, if we were to smell all of our sins…we would not be able to stand the smell of ourselves.  We could not handle knowing all that we have done wrong all at once.  God asks us to seek him and know him, and then, in love, reveals the things that we have done wrong as needed for our correction in drawing closer to him.

The worst of our sin is when we say to ourselves, “Well, at least I am not like that person over there…I am better than they are…at least I am not that bad!”  I tell you that is called judging and condemning.  We are not qualified to ring out judgement on other people or be condemning of them.

We do not have such a pure and clean nature that God does have…we cannot handle judging someone correctly and justly because we are not pure of heart…Mankind was not designed to judge. The job that Adam was given in the garden was “caretaker” not “judge”.  Yes, we are designed in the image of God, but we are not perfect….we are not God….we cannot read the person’s heart in front of us.  We are all looking at the person in front of us from our own perspective…not from God’s perspective.  God’s perspective will always be from the position of knowing the person’s heart and everything about them.  We can never know everything about a person.  Even if they tell us, we still don’t know everything.

I mean, come on, we even surprise ourselves at times, don’t we?!!  If we are capable of surprising ourselves, then that means we don’t even fully know ourselves…how can we not understand that this means we don’t fully know another person, either.

God knows each and every one of us, totally and completely.  He knows the pains and heartaches of each of us.  He knows what motivates us.  He knows when we are doing things in rebellion to him.  He knows when we are doing things that are self-centered.  He knows when we are doing the right things and the wrong things…he knows when we are doing things in innocence and in ignorance.  God knows us totally, and the great thing is that God also LOVES US TOTALLY!  Isn’t that amazing?!!

God always has the goal of having us be back in reconciliation with him and for us to after being reconciled be doing the work of bringing others to be reconciled to God through the work of Jesus the Christ.  God is FOR US!  God is NOT AGAINST US!

We need to stop acting like God is against us and that we have to do it all on our own.  He sent Jesus to die to atone for our sins and reconcile us to him because he is FOR US!  He sent Jesus to tell us how to be reconciled and to show us the way home to God.  Jesus did not simply come to make sure that you get into heaven….that is only part of it.  Jesus came “to show the way.”

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John 14:6 New International Version (NIV)

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

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The way that Jesus has shown us is the way of “love” and “understanding”.

Read Ephesians chapter 4

Ephesians 4 New International Version (NIV)

Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ

4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

⁷ But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸ This is why it^[a] says:

“When he ascended on high,
    he took many captives
    and gave gifts to his people.”^[b]

⁹ (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions^[c]? ¹⁰ He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) ¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Instructions for Christian Living

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. ¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

²⁰ That, however, is not the way of life you learned ²¹ when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. ²² You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶ “In your anger do not sin”^[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷ and do not give the devil a foothold. ²⁸ Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work,doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

²⁹ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³² Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Footnotes:

1. Ephesians 4:8 Or God
2. Ephesians 4:8 Psalm 68:18
3. Ephesians 4:9 Or the depths of the earth
4. Ephesians 4:26 Psalm 4:4 (see Septuagint)

New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Being unloving and judgmental, and condemning to others grieves the Holy Spirit.

 

Have you ever known a person to change their behavior and draw closer to God because someone came at them and started telling them about how bad their behavior is?

I mean, how effective do you think it is to go up to someone and say, “Are you born again? Do you know if you are not born again..you are going to hell!  God is going to send you to hell for the way you are living!”

How many people do you think turn their hearts toward God when someone says something like this to them?  Anyone?  Usually, the person saying this is not someone who actually knows the person they are talking to at all.  They are just bent on their own agenda of sharing the gospel with anyone and everyone!  They probably don’t even understand what is wrong with how they are sharing it….the intimidation that comes across to the person who has to hear this!  Usually, the person who is asked this question just wants to get as far away from the person saying it as possible, as quickly as possible!  I know this because I was put in this position as a high school student by some woman who was having her car washed at our band fund raiser!  It just felt like she was attacking me…there was no love in her tone at all!

We need to on all accounts share the gospel in a loving manner…we should not beat people over the head with God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit!  The easiest thing in the world in sharing the gospel is to just share in regular conversation your experience.  You listen to the Holy Spirit and you will start over time to understand when there is an opening to share the “good news” of the gospel with someone who is receptive.  Simply seek to bring God into the room with you in the conversation…if the person cuts you off, then don’t stress out and get upset.  Simply change the subject and be loving and friendly toward them.  God is still working on them…God is outside of time, he does not have time constraints…he knows the plan he has for each one of us…to prosper us and not harm us.

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Jeremiah 29:11 New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

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We just need to have faith in God’s plans for us and for others. We have no idea how many people will have to bring up the gospel to a person before that person will decide to accept that gospel…each of us may just be a sentence here and a sentence there, then one day the person brings all the sentences in their life together and realizes through the work of the Holy Spirit….”Aha!  So this is God calling me to repent and turn back into relationship with him!  I definitely want to do that!  I wish I had understood this a long time ago!  I wasted so much time that I could have been spending with the Good Lord!”

We will be celebrating with the heavenly beings when each person is saved…that is one of the most awesome things about being a Christian….we can participate in the reconciliation of others with God….through the work of the Holy Spirit.  Not through anything we, ourselves, are doing…no one is ever saved through the work of a person.  We are jars of clay that are fragile and thus because we are fragile…the work of the Holy Spirit can shine through the cracks into the darkness!

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2 Corinthians 4:7-10 English Standard Version (ESV)

Treasure in Jars of Clay

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

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Boaz and Ruth

Ruth 1:16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.  Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.  Your people will be my people and your God my God.

Read Ruth Chapter 1 thru 4 The important points are that Ruth chose to go with her mother in law, Naomi, to a land where she would not likely be welcome as she was a Moabite.  The Moabites were rather pagan compared to the Jews so they were looked down upon.  The Moabites were actually descendants of Abraham’s nephew, Lot, through his relationship with his daughters after the destruction of Sodom.  (see Genesis 19:30-38).  Ruth loved Naomi enough that she didn’t want her to be alone in the world, so she embraced both Naomi and Naomi’s God for her own.  God rewarded Ruth for this decision by putting her along with Boaz into Jesus’ lineage.  Boaz was rewarded his for his good character, integrity and his love of Ruth for who she was, and not where she came from.  Ruth and Boaz became the parents of Obed, who was the father of Jesse who became the father of David the King.

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Ruth 1 New International Version (NIV)

Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons

1 In the days when the judges ruled,^[a] there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. ² The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

³ Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴ They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, ⁵ both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem

⁶ When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. ⁷ With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

⁸ Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. ⁹ May the Lord grant that each of you will find restin the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud ¹⁰ and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

¹¹ But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? ¹² Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— ¹³ would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

¹⁴ At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye,but Ruth clung to her.

¹⁵ “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”¹⁸ When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

¹⁹ So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

²⁰ “Don’t call me Naomi,^[b]” she told them. “Call me Mara,^[c] because the Almighty^[d]has made my life very bitter. ²¹ I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted^[e] me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

²² So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

Footnotes:

1. Ruth 1:1 Traditionally judged
2. Ruth 1:20 Naomi means pleasant.
3. Ruth 1:20 Mara means bitter.
4. Ruth 1:20 Hebrew Shaddai; also in verse 21
5. Ruth 1:21 Or has testified against

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Ruth 2 New International Version (NIV)

Ruth Meets Boaz in the Grain Field

2 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

² And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”

Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” ³ So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

⁴ Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”

“The Lord bless you!” they answered.

⁵ Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

⁶ The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. ⁷ She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

⁸ So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me.⁹ Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

¹⁰ At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

¹¹ Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. ¹² May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord,the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

¹³ “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

¹⁴ At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”

When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. ¹⁵ As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her.¹⁶ Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”

¹⁷ So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah.^[a] 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

¹⁹ Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

²⁰ “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.^[b]”

²¹ Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”

²² Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

²³ So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Footnotes:

1. Ruth 2:17 That is, probably about 30 pounds or about 13 kilograms
2. Ruth 2:20 The Hebrew word for guardian-redeemer is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty (see Lev. 25:25-55).

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Ruth 3 New International Version (NIV)

Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor

3 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home^[a] for you, where you will be well provided for. ² Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. ³ Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴ When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”

⁵ “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. ⁶ So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.

⁷ When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. ⁸ In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!

⁹ “Who are you?” he asked.

“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer^[b] of our family.”

¹⁰ “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. ¹¹ And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.¹² Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. ¹³ Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.”

¹⁴ So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.”

¹⁵ He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he^[c] went back to town.

¹⁶ When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”

Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her ¹⁷ and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”

¹⁸ Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”

Footnotes:

1. Ruth 3:1 Hebrew find rest (see 1:9)
2. Ruth 3:9 The Hebrew word for guardian-redeemer is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty (see Lev. 25:25-55); also in verses 12 and 13.
3. Ruth 3:15 Most Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts, Vulgate and Syriac she

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Ruth 4 New International Version (NIV)

Boaz Marries Ruth

4 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer^[a] he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

² Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.³ Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. ⁴ I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you^[b] will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.”

“I will redeem it,” he said.

⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the^[c] dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”

⁶ At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”

⁷ (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)

⁸ So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.

⁹ Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnessesthat I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰ I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”

¹¹ Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. ¹² Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”

Naomi Gains a Son

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. ¹⁴ The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! ¹⁵ He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. ¹⁷ The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

The Genealogy of David

¹⁸ This, then, is the family line of Perez:

Perez was the father of Hezron,

¹⁹ Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,

²⁰ Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,^[d]

²¹ Salmon the father of Boaz,

Boaz the father of Obed,

²² Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of David.

Footnotes:

1. Ruth 4:1 The Hebrew word for guardian-redeemer is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty (see Lev. 25:25-55); also in verses 3, 6, 8 and 14.
2. Ruth 4:4 Many Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts he
3. Ruth 4:5 Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew (see also Septuagint) Naomi and from Ruth the Moabite, you acquire the
4. Ruth 4:20 A few Hebrew manuscripts, some Septuagint manuscripts and Vulgate (see also verse 21 and Septuagint of 1 Chron. 2:11); most Hebrew manuscripts Salma