"Never let loyalty and kindness get away from you! Wear them like a necklace; write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will gain a good reputation.” Proverbs 3:3-4
It is time to continue on and apply the love Jesus has given us. It is time we take the gift of Christ’s love and give it back to God. So over the next week we are going to shower, smother, and pour our love all over the Lord. Get out your buckets of loyalty and get ready to unload them on the Lord.
As you reach for your bucket of loyalty make sure that you are going to be 100% committed before you pour. I say that because God wants and deserves to be lavished with our loyalty to Him no matter what! God tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:21-22 “You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too. What? Do you dare to rouse the Lord’s jealousy as Israel did?” It angers the Lord when we do not give Him our complete loyalty. Check your bucket and make sure it does not contain mixed loyalty.
How much loyalty does the Lord require? “Another of his disciples said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me now! Let those who are spiritually dead care for their own dead.” So how much loyalty does the Lord require? All of it! God says, “I do not come second to anyone or anything.”
We also need to make sure we don't fall into the same trap the Israelites did. They were only found to be loyal when around those who were devoted to God.
When the new generation of Israelites grew up they did not acknowledge God nor did they remember what He did for them. As a result they did evil things in the sight of the Lord and began worshiping other Gods. That angered the Lord and he turned them over to marauders who stole their possessions and every time they went to battle they were defeated. After they became very distressed the Lord rescued them. He raised up judges to rescue them from their enemies, but they still refused to listen and continued to show their loyalty to other gods. The Lord continued to rescue them from their enemies because He took pity on His people, but when the judge died they immediately went back to their corrupt ways behaving worse than those who had lived before them. And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. (Judges 2:16-19)
Let me close with a question? Where does your true loyalty lie? Do you put the Lord first each day or do you put other things before Him? It is so easy to let the things of this world and even people lure us to be loyal to them, but it is God that we must be loyal to first and always!
Lord show us where are loyalty is, if it is not in You and You alone reveal that to our hearts so that we can be completely loyal to You every day until You call us home. Forgive us for putting other things and people before You. Amen
