Loyalty, Where Have You Gone?

Events of recent days brought back to my memory a hymn from my youth. Anyone old enough to remember: “Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty for Christ?” Whether it’s a university’s athletic department switching conferences for the almighty TV dollar, a spouse switching partners for the lure of youth or status, or an institution cancelling the insurance premium coverage of its retirees for the sake of budget balancing, loyalty is a missing ingredient in today’s society. The seeming disappearance of loyalty in society should be a warning to believers to revive both the word and the practice in their relationship to God. In the midst of His sermon on the mount, Jesus proclaimed, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). “’On to victory!’ Cries our great Commander, on! We’ll move at His command. We’ll soon posses the land, through loyalty, yes loyalty to Christ.” Revive it! Sing it! Live it!

And join me in remembering the following global prayer concerns:
• Pray for two couples and a single that were refused entry at the Canadian border as they try again on Monday to enter Canada for the purpose of starting a church in metro Vancouver.
• Pray for missionaries who gather this week for an annual meeting near Kiev.
• Pray for high security personnel who are under pressure because a baptism service was secretly videotaped and aired on TV.
• Pray for student summer missionaries as they adjust to their mission field.