The Meaning & Power of Loyalty

Ministering: Pastor I.S James

Loyalty’s the foundation of every relationship we find ourselves in, be it with God, our spouses, offspring, siblings, friends, colleagues.

Let’s begin by finding out what loyalty really is?

1.     It’s the quality of being faithful or staying true to someone, something or a group. (Matt. 6:24).

2.     Faithfulness to an oath, an obligation, a commitment or a vow (Psalm 15:4).

3.     It’s a strong feeling of allegiance or support to a leader, a cause or a person deserving fidelity (2Samuel 16:17).

Jesus being the One who made us knows that it’s impossible for us to be loyal & faithful to two people in equal measure.

A loyal person’s a true friend and a faithful defender. (Prov. 17:17)

You’ll notice that the word loyal(ty) doesn’t appear at all in the KJV of the Bible, words like “kindness” or “mercy” are used. Contemporary translations use the word “Loyalty” as it ties better to the modern meanings & usage.

Kindness (Hebrew translation – Chesed) is pity, kindness, grace and compassion

Mercy – kindness you extend to someone based on an existing relationship. It also means unfailing love

Prov. 17:17 – shows us that the quality of consistency must be present in one’s loyalty for it to be complete.

What’s the origin of loyalty?

It’s divine; it’s a trait of God. He’s always faithful, true & dependable. (2Tim. 2:11)

Jer. 9:23

The attribute of God’s love shown here is He has “loyal” love for us. It implies that He can’t stop loving us even if He wants to.

God wants to build His character of loyalty into us  & He does this through these 2 means:

1.     Your consistent obedience to His Word. You show your loyalty by obeying God’s Word. (2 Chron. 16:9)

2.     He teaches us covenant faithfulness in relationships.

·      God values covenants so much that He honours covenants between ALL people, whether Christian or not (Mal. 2:10-16)

Two of the major problems we have in Christianity today are:

1.     We classify & categorize sin

2.     We amplify our goodness & reduce our negatives while we minimize other’s goodness & amplify their negatives.

What’s the Value of Loyalty? How much value does God (and should we) place on loyalty?

1.     Loyalty’s the basis of our entry into His presence (Psalm 15:1 & 4).

2.     It’s so important to God that He values, honours & defends it

·      Value – We see this with Jephtah (Judges 11:35).

·      Honour – We see this with Mordecai (Esther 2:21; Prov. 21:21)

·      Defend – We see this in the case of Uriah (2Sam. 11:11, Matt. 1:6) by God continuing to refer to Bathsheba as Uriah’s wife & not David’s

Even when the person to whom you’re loyal fails to recognise it, God does recognise it & will honour you for your loyalty.

James 4:4 – God hates disloyalty/treachery in any form. He’s against you betraying the trust of someone you’re meant to be loyal to.

Loyalty is part of God’s character, which He’s infusing into us & it’s meant to be part of every Christian’s DNA.