Loyal

John (Jonah / Yochanan) had a son named Simon (Shim’on). Jesus gave him a nickname: Rock (Cephas / Peter).

Simon’s actions as a follower of Jesus included declarations of his desire to worship Jesus (and Moses, and Elijah: Matthew 17), the fact that Jesus’ Father is Yahweh (Matthew 16) and that he would die before denying Jesus (Matthew 26). Yet, another of his acts was to call curses on himself if he were lying when he swore to have never met Jesus (Matthew 26).

Our loyalty is located in our hearts and minds. It is influenced by pride, fear, greed and laziness. Better news, though, is that it is also influenced by the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23). That’s what we want. The strength of agape love, of faith, of self control, of patience is what we want empowering our loyalty.

When David’s mighty men returned with him to Ziklag from a mercenary mission and found their families and possessions had been stolen, their response was to turn on David with the declared intention of murder. David’s family and possessions were also gone, but his response was to turn to Yahweh, with the declared intention of gaining strength and wisdom through submission (1 Samuel 30). Even when no one was loyal to him, he was loyal to Yahweh.