Dear Friends
Loyalty in people is something that I admire. In fact, I suspect that
it might be said of me that “I am sometimes loyal to a fault.” I think I have
always been that way, and there have been times when being that way has hurt
me.
I remember well a secretary I had many years ago. Administratively
she was top of the line. She had the ability to tidy up my desk before I even
had a chance to get it messy. She was great organizationally, but poor
relationally and consequently not the best kind of person to represent me. To
put it mildly, she could be blunt, insensitive, and at times even rude. People
kept telling me she was hurting my ministry, but I always thought she would
learn and get better.
Unfortunately, it was my penchant for loyalty that kept me from
doing what others kept telling me I needed to do. I did ultimately make the
decision to replace her. and we found another place for her where she was more
suited to serve.
It has been many years since this experience, but I still remember
it and how my misguided loyalty proved to be a temporary detriment
to my ministry. I would like to say I learned a valuable lesson from that
experience, but even today I will have to admit that there still have been
times since when I have allowed my loyalty to impact my logic.
Loyalty is a wonderful thing as long as we don’t allow it to blind
our objectivity, causing us to lose touch with reality.
I admit I do admire loyalty, and I treasure that quality in people
I know, and even the places I frequent. I shop predominantly at
Aldi’s because I am loyal to the brand, and I drive 40 minutes to
eat Thai food in a restaurant in East Brunswick rather than frequent one of the
several I could dine at locally because I am loyal to the owner.
Yes, I admit I may be more than a little bit irrational when it
comes to some forms of loyalty, but it is the rational kind of loyalty that I
hope others will appreciate and always admire in me.
The disciple Thomas was the kind of person I admire. Sure, he has
been given that terrible moniker, “The Doubter,” and perhaps it is well
deserved. But in my mind, I like to think of Thomas in another light.
When the disciples and Jesus were on their way to Jerusalem, and
it looked as if there was a mutiny brewing, and Jesus might be left to walk
into Jerusalem alone, it was Thomas, loyal and courageous Thomas, who said,
“Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
He put Peter and John to shame. As a result of his words, the
spirits of those disciples were suddenly settled and all twelve of them arose
to follow their Master to his death. Thomas may have been a doubter, but at
least he was a dependable, devoted, and dutiful doubter.
George Whitefield, that mighty preacher of the 1700’s was heard to
shout at one of his critics, “If I am going to be damned at least it will be at
the feet of Jesus.”
Proverbs 3:3-4 exhorts us to “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.”
A young man in the army confided to his pastor that he never went
about with another girl if he was less than fifty miles from home. His loyalty
went only fifty miles.
How far does our loyalty to Jesus go? I hope it is more than a
fifty-mile loyalty.”
May each one of us possess this kind of loyalty that we might
say with Thomas, “Let us go, (to Jerusalem) that we may die with Him.”
Yours in faith and friendship,
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