Love and Loyalty
May 6th, 2009 by ljkim
One part of love that is under emphasized in our culture is “loyalty.” When you love someone, with a real love, it comes with the expectation of loyalty. What’s that? Loyalty means I will not cease to love even when the feelings of love and friendship abandon me.
Why do we need loyalty? Because real life brings conflict. What was remarkable about the love within the early church was that there was no shortage of conflict: there was unspoken racism against the Hellenistic Jews in the church in Jerusalem (their widows were overlooked in distribution of resources), there was a deep theological conflict that occurred between the Greek believers and Jewish believers revolving around their culture. But what held them together was a loyalty (not just to some idea of “church”) but to one another. Paul knew that Peter needed to understand, or else… Peter knew that Paul was more than just an annoyance, but someone who’s voice he should consider even though they sharply disagreed for a time. And eventually they loved each other more for having been at odds…because that’s how it is with friendships.
I’m afraid many people today will never know that kind of friendship because our sense of loyalty to the people we love is so weak. Loyalty means “I will not leave you or forsake you.” It means I’m not going to turn on you and attack you, but I will fight and argue on your behalf. And even when my argument is with you, I will fight for your good and not to tear you down.
God is constantly reminding us of his loyalty, and training us to be loyal like Him.
Related posts: