Loyalty, however, has become as rare as a classic car. We rarely see it but when we do everyone notices it. Last week, the verse of the day was about loyalty to God. James 1:12 in The Message says this: “Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.”
Those words, loyally in love with God, stuck out to me like a classic car driving down the road. I had to do a double take. In fact, I have returned to them with my mind’s eye over and over again. Am I loyally in love with God? According to James 1:12, the only way to know is by sticking out a testing challenge.
No one wants to meet a testing challenge much less stick it out. No sirree. No thanks. But it is the season of Lent that puts a new perspective on loyalty. Of Jesus’ 12 disciples, 11 of them abandoned Him at the cross. The irony, of course, is that Jesus was loyal to them even when they were not loyal to Him.
Our loyalty is always put to the test when we are faced with a challenge. Loyalty takes what we have professed with our lips and makes us prove it with our lives. This is no easy task. It demands restraint where we desire retribution. It requires waiting when we want to move. It commands grace where we see justice. And yet, through it all, it is where we learn how to trust Jesus. This reminds me of the song, Through It All.
I’ve been to lots of places and I’ve seen a lot of faces. There’ve been times I felt so all alone. But in my lonely hours, yes, those precious lonely hours Jesus let me know that I was His own.
I thank God for the mountains and I thank Him for the valleys. I thank Him for the storms He brought me through. For if I’d never had a problem, I wouldn’t know that He could solve them. I’d never know what faith in God could do.
Loyally Loving Jesus,
Pastor Jonathan, Sara & Emerson