Proverbs 19:22: "Loyalty makes a person attractive. It is better to be poor than dishonest." Proverbs 20:6: "Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is truly reliable?" Loyalty, this is a word we hear allot about in our world. We hear it in commercials for products that have been made for hundreds of years, a "Loyal" company, that you can depend upon, no matter what. They never mention, though that they took money from us the taxpayer to not go into bankruptcy. In sports the word is used over and over. I imagine there is not a locker room anywhere, from Jr. High, High School, Jr. College, College, Semi-Pro, or Pro sports that does not have the word "Loyalty" somewhere painted on their walls. What is "loyalty"? According to Webster Loyal means: : "unswerving in allegiance: as : faithful in allegiance to one's lawful sovereign or government". I love movies about war, and combat, doesn't matter which century, Mid- evil times, WW1, WW2, Korea..........War between the States, Vietnam, ............you get my point, These war movies are full of action, but more importantly they show utter Loyalty. Men or women, fighting for something, a country, a belief, family, honor, and yes sometimes greed or power. They fight for their Flag, their King, their leaders, their family, their home, Pride, religion, something. They never waver in their loyalty.., and more then not, in these movies they give their lives for their cause. I tire of hearing the word "loyal" used these days,used, I might add, wrongfully. Manufacturers, Stores, .....try and 'guilt" us into buying their products. It is American Made, be loyal to your country. This product is made by a "Minority owned company", "no animals were killed or harmed in the making of this product"..............So by using these products, we feel better about ourselves, because we have "stuck to our guns" as far as our "Cause" goes. There is nothing wrong with feeling that way, but I believe it is a big trick used by advertising companies to make us feel guilty unless we buy this certain product over another. We understand Loyalty, but do we really? How do you know someone is a REAL friend? Try telling them your moving from a 3rd floor apartment to a 4th floor apartment (and the apartments are about 40 miles across town) and need their help. Do the all of a sudden remember a surgery they have scheduled for that exact day, or do they say "Sure, no problem". Of course no one is going to be complain free, but they will be there to help. What makes you loyal to a certain brand or store? Easy, not the commercials where they tell you how loyal they are, but by your friends telling you how nice, loyal and caring they are. You see, as with most things in life, Loyalty is earned. Have you ever complained about your Pastor or your church? "I do not like those fast songs they sing, I cannot understand the words" or "I wish they would sing more modern songs, those old hymns are to slow" or "It is always so hot, or cold, or the sound is SO loud, or I cannot hear them, turn up the sound, or I don't like it when the Pastor preaches about tithing, or this or that, I mean what is he trying to say, that I am cheap? " Where is your loyalty to your church? I used to be one of those that would skip from church to church just because I tired of something at one particular church, so I would try another one out. When I was going to Jr. College, many of the students would attend Many different churches. One would have a special singer we liked, so we would go there that day, another would have a certain preacher we liked, so...........or one would have a lot of attractive single women, so.........you get the idea. How can you put down roots in a church if you only go a few times a year? You can't. How can you serve in a church this way, you can't. This may have been the idea while I was in college, I did not want to serve, I wanted to be served. My Daughter graduated from Baylor University in Waco Texas Erin, my daughter, is very loyal to her Baylor Bears. Since she attended Baylor, I have been a huge fan, also. If you don't know, Baylor has not had a very good football team in quite a long time. Just over the last few years they have been getting better and better. BUT even in the bad years, they usually sold out their stadium, the fans would come to games, even though they were pretty sure they were going to lose. They were loyal to their hometown team. Why? Because the team was good, and won the national championship almost every year, NO, because this was their Home Town team. Loyalty. Where is this Loyalty today? We hear about it all the time, but where is it? Our employers are having a very tough time because of the economy and they have to do certain things like cutting our health care, or switching to another insurance company that doesn't offer as cheap co pays. To us this can feel that they are not being loyal. We feel, especially if we have been there for a long time, that they are betraying us, their loyal employees. What would you give your life for? Your wife, husband, children? Your friends? What about your pastor? What about your Mother in Law? The bible tells us: John 15:13 "There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" Laying down one's life for a friend, is this Loyalty? Yes, the greatest kind. So then Love and Loyalty are the same? Yes, I believe they are interconnected. Without Love you cannot have Loyalty and without Loyalty you cannot have love? Yes, let's look at a marriage relationship. Is there Love? Yes, there should be, without it what kind of a marriage is it? Does this Love have loyalty wrapped up in it? Yes, it should, if your not loyal to the one you love, then where is the love? Loyalty and trust also go hand in hand. Without one the other is just hanging out there all lonely and stuff. So Love, Trust, and especially Loyalty, all go hand in hand. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ, and His father The One who made everything? If so, then you trust them to do what they say they will do. and you trust them to take care of you , because they said they will. Then your loyalty to them, is complete. You will do anything they tell you to because you love and trust them. It is OK to be loyal to certain brands and companies, because if they have never let you down, and always had a good product that you like, then they have earned that trust, and loyalty. Aren't you glad that God doesn't just yell at us through our TV's or radios how good He is, and try to make us feel guilty if we don't come to Him? He quietly comes and shows us how good He is, He EARNS our loyalty, He EARNS our trust and He makes it so easy to love Him. I was going to bring Loyalty into the Political Arena, but I think it is best if I leave that one alone, as we all know, there are VERY few , if any , loyal politicians. That is all I am going to say about that. Be Loyal to your family, friends, co-workers, boss, spouse, church, place of business, favorite restaurant, shopping stores, .............And be the person of God you should be so that those that know you will be loyal to you. Remember it works both ways, Loyalty is earned, by you, and to you.