Loyalty

We live in a world of choice. We value choice. In fact we are downright angry if that choice is taken away. We want to choose the store we shop at, the brand name we wear, the food we eat, the church we attend, the music we listen to... Sometimes however, choice can be crippling. There are simply too many options to choose from. Which is the right choice? Every choice has a consequence. Some consequences are better than others, and we want to make the "right" choice. I believe the question of choice can be settled in most cases when the question of loyalty is settled. There is a passage in scripture that I was reminded of this morning. I feel this passage sums up the issue of loyalty. After devastating loss, Naomi gives her daughter-in-law, Ruth, a choice, she could leave and go back to her own people. It is Ruth's reply that I think is powerful in light of the notion of loyalty, it is found in Ruth 1:16-17: "But Ruth replied, 'Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.' " 

Once the issue of loyalty is settled, then every other choice will flow from that. My first loyalty is to the Lord God, I have devoted my life completely to Him. Every other choice I make, therefore, will flow from this loyalty. Also, I have made a commitment to my wife, a commitment that is not much unlike the one Ruth made to Naomi: "till death do us part." No matter what choice I make in life it must pass the test of loyalty to God and my family.