Loyal Friend?

“LOTS OF PEOPLE CLAIM TO BE LOYAL AND LOVING, BUT WHERE ON EARTH CAN YOU FIND ONE?” PROVERBS 20:6 The Message

“Pastor, I would have followed you to the ends of the earth!” the lady said to me after telling me that she was leaving our church. My reply was simply, “But, you didn’t, did you?”

I sat and listened to a heart-broken pastor yesterday tell of how his ministry is being undermined by good, but disloyal members. I heard the same story again today from another pastor.

The weakness of human relationships isn’t only seen or felt within the ministry though; who of you have not been disappointed by a “friend” or family member? So many marriages today are broken upon the rocks of discontentment and heart-ache after the promises of loyalty and love are broken!

“LOTS OF PEOPLE CLAIM TO BE LOYAL AND LOVING, BUT WHERE ON EARTH CAN YOU FIND ONE?”

I used to joke that my late father never made a promise to us as kids that he didn’t break; as a kid it seemed that way. Poor dad often promised from his heart what he desired to do for us, but had no means of doing. His intentions were better than his word. As a father, I now understand that his heart often out-spoke his head.

Not everyone’s intentions are as pure as my fathers though. Most people have very conditional love, which is really not love at all. Most people have loyalty also which is based entirely upon whether or not we continue to please them, which is not loyalty at all.

So how should we measure out love and loyalty? As Christ measures them out to us, fully, freely and without condition; such love and loyalty frees men from their sin, such love and loyalty forgets their transgressions, such love and loyalty will change the world. The Psalmist writes, “LOTS OF PEOPLE CLAIM TO BE LOYAL AND LOVING, BUT WHERE ON EARTH CAN YOU FIND ONE?” We shouldn’t be surprised that there are so few, we should be determined that we each become one. Amen!