LOYALTY IS LOVE’S FIRST COUSIN!

LOYALTY IS LOVE’S FIRST COUSIN!

1 Cor 13:7

7 [Love] Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

           There is not a single verse in our King James Version that uses the word “loyalty.” The concept, however, saturates the Bible in many places. Ruth is a prime example.

Ruth 1:16-17

16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

           I was taught loyalty from the time I was a child. I learned it at home, school, and at church. Loyalty to my local church meant that the services and events of my church had priority over other community events – even religious ones. Later I was taught that if you had two weeks vacation you would arrange to be gone only one Sunday and not two. I was taught that you paid your tithes before you left and not after or not at all. Ah, but I’m old school! All those fences have been trampled down. Loyalty now is to self. Even the very idea of church “membership” is fluid.

           The word “endureth” in the verse above is from the Greek hupomeno which literally means “to remain.” When the going gets rough will you remain? When you are distracted by some interesting or exciting alternative to duty will you remain. Your answers define what loyalty means to you.

Dear Lord, I may not be the best example but I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to remain! AMEN