Loyalty
What does ‘Loyalty’ mean to you? Has it, over your lifetime, changed in meaning or even how you now live within your understanding of the word?
It is my opinion that the true meaning of ‘Loyalty’ is a word that is ‘going out of fashion’. We no longer seem to be loyal to anything - other than ourselves, our own needs and desires. Even within marriage loyalty to each other seems to have diminished. Loyalty among friends seems to now rely on ‘whether you are doing what meets my needs’. Many shops and supermarkets have ‘Loyalty Schemes’, but they want us to be loyal to them so that they can continue to make a profit and keep trading, all the while it’s disguised as their ‘rewarding loyal customers’.
I feel that I have become quite cynical about loyalty. But is it because it’s been so watered-down that we no longer understand ‘Loyalty’. Or have I become caught up in the ways of the world? How about you?
But more important than our loyalty to each other, how is it with your relationship with God? Has the world’s understanding of loyalty affected your understanding of what being loyal to God looks like?
The Bible is quite clear that loyalty is one of God’s attributes. God remains loyal (faithful) to us, so there is an expectation that we should remain loyal to God. The loyalty we express should be a reflection of God’s loyalty to us.
What does it mean to be loyal as a Christian? The website GotQuestions.org is quite helpful. “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 (Joshua 24:15). 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 neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12:29-31; cf. John 15:13; 1 John 3:16).
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” (Deuteronomy 7:9).”
https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-loyalty.html
It should therefore stand to reason that if we sow disloyalty, we will reap disloyalty. If we sow loyalty, we will reap loyalty.
Not only is God completely loyal to us, and this is expressed through His covenant with us and the promise of never being separated from the love God (Romans 8:38-39), but we see how loyalty has shown itself throughout the Bible.
The story of Ruth shows the loyalty of a daughter-in-law to a mother-in-law.
Jonathan showed loyalty to David – the loyalty of a friend to a friend.
Joseph showed loyalty to his brothers, in spite of what they did to him.
Esther showed loyalty to her Nation
Moses showed loyalty to the people of Israel – even when they turned against him.
Lydia showed loyalty to Paul and Timothy by being a good host to them.
Timothy and Paul remained loyal to each other in Ministry
Luke remained loyal to Paul as he served Paul
Paul speaks of his ‘loyal companion’ in requesting that person helps the women who laboured with him in the Gospel.
Daniel remained loyal to his God, even when it meant persecution and possible death.
And then there is the ultimate demonstration of loyalty – that of Jesus showing loyalty not just to us, but to His Father too.
GotQuestions.Org continues “As Jesus’ disciples, we demonstrate our loyalty and self-sacrificing allegiance to Him by following His command: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mark 8:34). But even when we fail to be completely loyal and steadfast to Him, we have His assurance that He will be loyal to us: “And surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b).”
As I’ve been seeking God for 2026 in these past few weeks, the word ‘LOYALTY’ keeps coming back to me. I have such a deep sense that God is asking us to consider what that word means to us and how we are going to pursue loyalty, not just to each other, but to God.
So I leave you, at the start of 2026, to consider this:-
• What does loyalty mean to you? Do you receive it from the people around you? Do you show it to those in your life?
• How loyal are you to God? How is your relationship with Him going? Can you echo what Psalm 119:33-34 says - “33 Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. 34 Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart.” Loyalty is following God’s ways and being obedient to Him.
Being loyal to God also means loving Him with all of our being, living for Him alone, seeking His Face and bringing praise and adoration to Him. Our gaze should be fixed on God and we will be transformed into His likeness.
We need to, every day, study the Scriptures to build ourselves up in the faith, pray and where possible pray in the Spirit so that we will be guided into the truth, keep ourselves in God’s love and staying close to Him, receive mercy from Jesus and show mercy to others. Then we will become more like Him in every part of our lives, especially in the area of loyalty.
May we remain loyal to God and to each other throughout 2026. Let us allow Holy Spirit to teach us afresh about the meaning of Godly loyalty. And may our prayer this year be: 'God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart. Examine me through and through; find out everything that may be hidden within me. Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares. See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on, and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting way— the path that brings me back to you.' Psalms 139:23-24 [TPT]
Have an amazing 2026.
Be blessed
Jean
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