Are You Loyal to God?

I wish I could say that church me, work me, mom me, and neighbor me are all the same. We all like to think of ourselves as genuine, but sometimes I feel like two different versions of me are necessary.

Society likes to make God inappropriate outside of the church, and sometimes, I inadvertently let that lie seep into my life.
 
I don’t intentionally switch mindsets from Sunday to Monday.

• When I learn about gratitude in my Sunday school class, I don’t leave thinking “I’ll only be thankful until midnight, and then I’ll complain again tomorrow.”
• When God uses the preacher to convict my heart, I don’t tell God “I’m sorry for this sin today, so I won’t do it again until tomorrow.”​

• When a sermon pricks my heart to be a testimony of God’s love to those around me, I don’t think, “I’ll plan on showing God’s love to my coworkers this week until tomorrow when I’ll forget to be intentional."

​
Regardless of my intentions, I have been guilty of all of these things, and I know I’m not the only one. None of us are perfect, but I found myself in need of a reminder this week that my faith isn’t only real when I’m surrounded by people who agree with it.
 
At church, it’s easy to talk about God. Walking into a building filled with other believers can feel like jumping into a pool on a hot summer day. Paul described this atmosphere of the body of Christ where believers should “let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord" (Colossians 3:15-16).
 
At church, we won’t offend someone by talking about the God we love or discussing the faith we share. And that’s great. Really, it is.
 
But our God is not less present on Monday than He is on Sunday. He is always there. He sees what we do. He hears what we say. And He cares about all of it.

Thinking about my struggle with this, I felt compelled to put a name to it to help me understand my struggle better. I believe in God. I have faith in God. I love God. So, what is the quality I need to focus on to help me stay consistent from Sunday to Saturday and all the days in between?
 
There is no right answer. We could call it consistency. We could call it faithfulness. But we talk so much about each of these things in the Christian life that they sometimes lose their potency. I wanted a word that would stab me a little more—prick me a little deeper.
 
The word I found was loyalty.
 
Ouch. Ever since I thought about it, that word has been stinging my heart, and that’s how I know it’s the right one.

If I had a friend whom I visited every Sunday, most people would think I was a pretty loyal friend. But if throughout each week, I listened to people badmouth that friend without protest, I wouldn’t be loyal. If I spent all day Sunday assuring that friend I would do things throughout the week that I never did, I wouldn’t be loyal.
 
Perhaps the most famous example of this struggle with loyalty is Peter. The religious and political climate was scary for a follower of Jesus leading up to the crucifixion. In a situation where a follower of Christ would be mocked, persecuted, and possibly even killed, Peter denied having anything to do with Jesus (Luke 22:54-60).

​"Then they seized Him and led Him away, bringing Him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, 'This man also was with Him.' But he denied it, saying, 'Woman, I do not know Him.' And a little later someone else saw him and said, 'You also are one of them.' But Peter said, 'Man, I am not.' And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, 'Certainly this man also was with Him, for he too is a Galilean.' But Peter said, 'Man, I do not know what you are talking about.' And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed." Luke 22:54-60

Most of us don’t fear being put to death for following Christ, but our social climate is not exactly welcoming to Jesus and His teachings. For fear of being seen as haters, simpletons, or bigots, we sometimes shy away from talking about our God outside of the church.

I am much more likely to bring God into a conversation I have at church than I am to work Him into a conversation with a coworker. I’m much more likely to mention His blessings on Sunday and complain about the weather on Monday. All too often, I allow my setting to determine my words and my actions.
 
There is a difference between talking about God at church and talking about Him at work, and I’m not trying to pretend that there isn’t. We need to be timely and loving rather than overbearing and judgmental when discussing truth with a world confused about the very existence of truth. But we still need to have those discussions.
 
The great thing about learning to be loyal to our God no matter where we are or what we’re doing is that God is never disloyal to us. Our loyalty wavers when we allow ourselves to be afraid of what other people will think or say, but God is never afraid. His love for us is unwavering. And, thankfully, He knows how often we are tempted to just…not say anything.
 
Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Are you loyal to God? I think this is an area every follower of Christ needs a reminder of from time to time. No matter what day of the week we’re living right now, today is a day to praise our God and not be ashamed of Him. Today is a day to show God’s love to others, not hoard it all for ourselves.

How can we work on being loyal followers of Jesus today?