LOYALTY!
Prov
3:3-4
3
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon
the table of thine heart:
4
So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Col
3:9-10
9
Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him
that created him:
Phil
2:19-22
19
But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also
may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
20
For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for
your state.
21
For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
22
But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served
with me in the gospel.
You
won’t find the words loyal or loyalty in the Bible. You will,
however, find its cousins “mercy, truth, and faithful.” The concept of loyalty
is sprinkled everywhere! In the Bible the word “faithful” means not only full
of faith but also full of trust or “trustworthy.” You can count on the person
who is faithful!
Loyalty
is hard to find these days unless we search for it in our love for ourselves.
Marriages are on the decline because we are always trading partners. Many do
not hold a job for very long because they are always searching for a better
position.
Josiah
Royce in his 1908 book The Philosophy of Loyalty presented a
different definition of the concept. According to Royce, loyalty is a virtue,
indeed a primary virtue, "the heart of all the virtues, the central duty
amongst all the duties". Royce presents loyalty, which he defines at
length, as the basic moral principle from which all other principles can be
derived. The short definition that he gives of the idea is that loyalty is
"the willing and practical and thoroughgoing devotion of a person to a
cause". Loyalty is thoroughgoing in that it is not merely a casual
interest but a wholehearted commitment to a cause. (Source:
Wikipedia)
Christianity
rejects the notion of dual loyalty. In the Gospel of Matthew 6:24,
Jesus states "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one
and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. Ye
cannot serve God and mammon".
In
Naomi’s time of great need, Ruth displayed a loyalty that is a model yet today!
In the book that bears her name, Ruth says: “Stop asking me to go back home!
Where you go, I will go and whatever lodging you find, it is there I will
pillow my head as well. Your people will be my people. And I will worship your
God. In fact, I will die where you die!” (Ruth 1:16, 17)
Today
your church needs your loyalty! Your spouse needs you to be loyal. Your
friends may now be in urgent need of your loyalty. God deserves your loyalty –
because He is loyal to you.
I
would be true, for there are those who trust me;
I would be pure, for there are those who care;
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer;
I would be brave, for there is much to dare;
I would be brave, for there is much to dare.
I would be pure, for there are those who care;
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer;
I would be brave, for there is much to dare;
I would be brave, for there is much to dare.
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