Loyalty, a word that in many hearts rings with warmth and great value. A quality that can be found in people that invokes endearment and appreciation from those who are the recipient of it's expressions. A quality that is “part and parcel” to true friendship. In fact, I'd say that without it, true friendship is lost. For how can true friendship stand if there is no trust or reliability, and loyalty is the very foundation of trust. There can be love in a relationship without loyalty being expressed by all partners, but there can not be a love relationship. Meaning this, that in relationships it is often sadly true that love (which is expressed in loyalty) does not go both ways. For love to be a mutually reciprocating thing then loyalty much be found practiced by all.
Loyalty is defined by one popular dictionary as “feelings of allegiance”. But does loyalty only go as far as feelings? Do feelings of allegiance alone constitute loyalty? I think not. Yes, I would think that most of us would say that loyalty has feelings of allegiance, but with out actions that spring forth from allegiance shouldn't it be said that the feelings are very shallow? So we find that loyalty is to stand in allegiance to another in both feeling and action. But, what is the highest form of loyalty? I would say it is not only to stand by another, but to stand by them to the end that truth might prevail. An example of the negative side of this is the many who were very loyal to Hitler's Germany, but in the end who would say their loyalty was a good or a profitable thing? In like manner, all of our loyalties at life's end will be judged as to whether they were according to the truth or not. Sad to say I am afraid that the loyalties of many will not be found to the praise of Christ.
THE HIGHEST AND ONLY UNFAILING EXAMPLE OF LOYALTY AMONG MEN
Undoubtedly loyalty as been exemplified in men's lives since the beginning of creation. But I hold that there has only ever been one man who has perfectly exemplified loyalty, and that is Jesus the Righteous. How did He prove this? What actions of His life are recorded that bare the witness that His life alone perfectly exemplifies a life of the purest loyalties?
- Firstly, He was loyal to His Father, who was the One that commissioned (sent) Him into the world.
He ever obeyed the word (commandment) of His Father. This is seen in that He humbled Himself to set aside His deity, to then be found in the fashion of a man who came into the world as a baby born of a virgin woman
to live among a poor and oppressed people. He grew seeking the way of His Father, to live out His earthly ministry, to be brought to a place of rejection and betrayal by all men. Then to be condemned to a humiliating trial, brutalization,
and death, and all of this was at the command of His father. So that He could be become the savior that was needed to express the love of God to a lost creation, providing the salvation that men needed. Oh, how I am thankful that He was loyal, to the very bitter end of His natural life. - Secondly, He (Christ) was (and I believe is, and will ever be) loyal to His own word and oath. We see this first in that He kept His oath to the Father in that He completely played the part of becoming savior to all men. This is seen in Psalms 40: 6-8, (KJV) “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.” Christ's loyalty to His Father, obeying Him to the point of death is also established by the testimony of the writer of Hebrews 12:2b (KJV), “who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,.....”
Then He rose from the dead as He said He would. He sent the baptism of the Holy Spirit as He said He would.
He gave gifts unto men (the ascension offices of the New Testament Church) as He said He would. He's alive in Heaven making intercession for all Believers as He is supposed to be. He will come again to receive His own unto Himself, and at that time to judge both the righteous and the wicked, even as He said He would. He is loyal to His word, and in so doing He is loyal to all men. - Thirdly, Christ was and is loyal to His brethren. This loyalty is encapsulated in the first and second loyalties of Christ's heart. In that He is loyal to the Father and to Himself, He can not but help to be loyal to His brothers and sisters yet in the world. How can this be proven? I would say it is very easily proven by the fact that He has never lied to, or abandoned His own. I do not believe that there is one who can honestly say that Christ has never kept His word to His own. I believe that all the promises of God (Christ) work for us, if we work them correctly.
HOW CAN MEN LEARN THIS FORM OF LOYALTY?
There is only one way. It is found in being in Christ, and then in putting on Christ. By the operation of faith receiving Him as the savior and sovereign of one's life. By the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, which creates in the Believer a new inner man. One that is not fashioned after this world and its ways, but is fashioned after the One who calls us from above. Beyond these, the actions of
loyalty are learned by the renewing of our minds, where we learn to fashion our habits after the habits of Jesus. To the extent we will do this, we will be shown to be loyal, first to the Lord, and then to men around us, according to the various relationships that we experience in this mortal life. In this truth is the realization of the failure of our nation's people as expressed in how we have rejected God in our schools, in our churches, in our government and institutions. For in so doing we are more and more becoming a people where our citizens lack love for their neighbors. This produces a self serving people, a people with fewer examples of true and noble loyalty. That is why we have a divorce rate of nearly 70%, why we have murdered nearly 40 million babies through “legalized” abortion, why most any where in America one can open a phone book turning to the Yellow Pages and find page after page of attorneys being listed. And why is this so? It is because we are a nation filled with litigation. Neighbor suing neighbor in courts of law. The truest form of loyalty can only will be found where Christ is received as the center of men's lives.
WHAT ARE THE GREAT ENEMIES OF LOYALTY?
I would say the greatest enemy of loyalty to God and our neighbor is self-centeredness. Self is the greatest enemy that the Christian has. It is a far greater enemy then Satan. Loyalty, whether to God, or to one's neighbor is impossible until one learns to deny self. Beyond self there are other negative character qualities that are counter-productive to loyalty. Unbelief is one of these. How can one be loyal to either God or man when one is not able to believe? Confusion and ignorance is another. Not being able to conduct one's self with a clear understanding will affect one's ability to perform in a loyal manner. This is why God has given the Christian the mind of Christ, that by operating in His mind we might be able to conduct ourselves with clear and sound thought.
IN THE END, CAN ONE BE LOYAL TO HIS PEERS IF HE IS NOT FIRST LOYAL TO GOD?
Yes, I think one can be loyal to his neighbor without the fear of God, but I do not think that in the end it will profit him anything. For all creation is owned by Yahweh, therefore all the works of every man's life must be in accordance with Yahweh's will and purposes. So for any man to be loyal in any action to his neighbor or any purpose of man, be that secular, personal, or religious in nature, but not be loyal to God's purposes, will at judgment day be found completely empty and without reward. Therefore, in my mind loyalty to God is premier above every other loyalty, and every other loyalty, must, by the wise man and woman be brought into alignment to God's purposes.
Let the man that would seek the way of loyalty, take heart. The day comes when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of God and His Christ. (Revelations 11:15) In that day, full and true loyalty toward God and toward one's neighbor will be found in all men, for every offending person and thing will be removed.
A Watchman
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