Loyalty
Text; Ruth 1:16-17,1 Cor 4:2
The word loyalty brings to mind a powerful sense of belonging and solidarity. With it comes the idea of wholehearted fidelity coupled with unswerving devotion and duty.
In the Bible, the concept of loyalty is purely relational. This means our whole being is thoroughly committed to someone. Such loyalty is expressed to us in both the divine and human realms as given to us in the first two commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:29-31).
God established the very essence of loyalty through His covenant relationship with His people: “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations” (Deut 7:9).
Through His covenant, God’s people are assured of His never-ending love from which no believer can ever be separated (Romans 8:35-39).
In our relationships with one another, we are called to steadfast loyalty. Look at the life of Ruth, the very embodiment of loyalty as demonstrated in her complete devotion and duty to her mother-in-law: “don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16).
These beautiful words of commitment, faithfulness, and humility, show the deep loyalty that Ruth had for Naomi. Not thinking of what people might say or think about her.
The story of Ruth and Naomi shows what true loyalty is like. In addition to loyalty, Ruth exhibited respect, love, friendship, and humility. Just as Ruth chose loyalty to Naomi and Naomi’s God, so should we choose loyalty to God and God’s people over any commitment to the world.
“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,” Jesus said, “and all these things [of daily necessity] will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). Ruth’s loyalty was followed by the provision of many blessings.
