Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Friday 03/18/2011)

Loyal Is What Loyal Does…

Proverbs 18:24 (New Living Translation)

²⁴ There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24 (Amplified Bible)

²⁴The man of many friends [a friend of all the world] will prove himself a bad friend, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

            On occasion I like to read the news online.  As I was scrolling through the headlines, I saw one that grasps my attention. The headline was “Ultimate Loyalty: Japanese Dog Refuses to Leave Injured Friend Behind.”  Since I lived in Japan and I have a special love for the place I spent three years of my life in and I am an animal lover I immediately clicked to read the full article.  From the title alone I had made some assumptions, the number one assumption was that the dogs friend was a human being, the second assumption was that this dog knew and had a long term relationship with this individual.  To my surprise when I began to read the article it stated that “dogs have always been known to be man’s best friend, but they are also known to be a friend to their own as well.”  The article went on to explain that a spaniel in the aftermath of the Tsunami in Japan, stayed planted by another dog, until someone came at which time the dog guided the reporter over to see a dog laying there and he appeared to be dead, but then the Spaniel who had guided the reporter over pressed his body against the white dog who was laying there, and the dog slowly began to move.  I sat amazed as I read this article.  I felt compelled to read it to my mother, who promptly said, “isn’t that funny that animals have A BUILT IN SENSE OF LOYALTY, know what to do, and will stand more loyal than we will.”  All I could say was wow, so true.
            How ironic, that an animal like a dog will be loyal to another dog, one who maybe he did or did not know before tragedy, but we won’t even be loyal to those who have shown us loyalty and faithfulness.  When I think of loyalty I think of faithfulness and love, because I believe it is those two things that will encourage and ignite the fires of loyalty.  It is so easy for us to turn on one another and treat each other poorly, when we have a difference of opinion or we feel that our opinion or method should out way someone else’s.  We call God Lord and say He is the most important thing in our lives but yet we follow after the flesh and even knowingly pursue sin.  We call each other, sister, brother, friend, and family, but the loyalty that God models towards us, could we honestly say that we model towards our fellow man?  It is so ironic to me that an animal can instinctively take care of one another but we will not do the same.  We will see people that have loved us, befriended us, took care of us, when we needed them, stood by us when we needed, but at the slightest test or the time when we were needed to show ourselves loyal we conveniently find it inconvenient for us to show forth the same love, faithfulness and loyalty given to us.  After reading that article I thought to myself what if God did us the way we do Him, and the way we do one another, as far as loyalty goes how would we feel.  It did not take me long to thank God for His unconditional love, and His loving kindness and tender mercies towards me and the fact that He loved me enough to be loyal to our relationship, even when I was not.
            If an animal can show forth loyalty and here we are a more advanced species why can’t we?  If we say we love God and follow after Him, and we call ourselves Christians than why is our loyalty less than what Christ exhibited to His Father, His disciples and even us?  If we say you are my brother and you are my sister, than why is it okay for me to turn on you and lay you to waste, instead of love you, stay loyal to our bond and try to work it out?  Loyalty is a character trait that will cause us to stand with, even when it is not convenient or comfortable.  Being loyal requires sometimes that we are not accepted by everyone, but that God is pleased with how we honor Him with our lives and others that have stood with us.  Love, Faith, and Loyalty causes us to be a person that can be trusted and relied upon, even when it seems as if all hell is breaking loose around us! Are you the one that will stay when everyone else leaves?