Yesterday I had the privilege of
speaking at my home church. I was honored when they asked me and also very
nervous. I reviewed my notes, I asked God what topic he wanted me to speak on
and the word loyalty came to me. After having a few moments of weakness and
self doubt I went to my room and closed the door. I prayed that I would only
say what God wanted me to say and that He would give me peace. Finally the
moment came and I was surprisingly comfortable and excited to spread His word.
He took away all self doubt and anxiety that I had. I soon realized that the
message wasn’t about me, I was just the messenger it was all for Him. I asked the church and now I ask you, who or
what are you loyal to? Are you loyal to your family? Are you loyal to your
friends? Are you loyal to your job? Are you loyal to God? Loyalty is a
commitment, a deep devotion, a fearless faithfulness to a person or thing. Every
day we face choices to be loyal to God or to be loyal to someone or something
else. Mark 10:17-24 give a good example of
someone who said they wanted eternal life but when faced with a decision of
loyalty he choose money over God.
Mark 10 17-24:
“As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his
knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal
life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except
God alone. You know the commandments: "You shall not murder,
you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false
testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.”“Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept
since I was a boy.”Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing
you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you
will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great
wealth.Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for
the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. But
Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!”
The young man made the decision to
remain loyal to his wealth instead of being loyal to God. Sacrifices have to be
made when building a relationship with anyone. But how much more should we be willing
to sacrifice for Christ since He sacrificed His life for us? His blood was the
ultimate payment for our sins. He died for the same people who beat Him, spit on Him, and disrespected Him.
And He did it so that we could be freely forgiven for the sins we commit
every day. We will never be able to fully pay Him back. But how awesome is it
to know that He found you so precious and loved you so much that he died for
you.
Our loyalty is tested when we start
going through trials of various kinds. When we are struggling, and it may seem
like God is not listening. But, I want to encourage you to remain devoted to
Christ and pass the loyalty test. It is through our hard times that our character
and perseverance is developed. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it! That’s why it
is so important to encourage each other, and if you’re going through something open
up and talk about it. You don’t have to go through alone. We are here to be
helpers to one another.
I NEED YOUR HELP! I can’t reach
everyone alone but with your help there is no limit to how many can get ministered
to through this blog. Share it with your friends and family today.
