Loyalty

What comes in your mind when you hear the word loyalty?
The term is really confusing. You have big retail businesses requesting your loyalty and are motivating you to demonstrate, it by shopping from them in return for points . Clubcard, nectar points etc.
And then the term is applied to the family circle, to your wife or husband and children, to your friends and to God among other things and ideologies and causes.
But how can we define loyalty? How do you understand it? Especially what is Christian loyalty and how is been tested?
In the bible we find the Hebrew word CHASID which is kindness that lovingly attaches itself to an person, purpose or object until its purpose in connection with that object is realized. Imagine, loyalty as glue that keep us together with something. It’s a feeling. It’s a strong desire. Synonyms are faithfulness and integrity.
The Greek word that is translated as loyalty is οσιότης which carry the thought of holiness, righteousness, reverence; being devout, pious; the careful observance of all duties toward God. Its very interesting that the term in Greek is usually applied to people who have suffered for their faith.
In the Orthodox religion, you have the holy people, the Saints and the Loyal ones. The Saints were mostly teachers and writers but the loyal ones have suffered death for their faith.
The Insight in the Scriptures Vol 2 Under Loyalty its says this: There appear to be no English words that exactly express the full meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words, but “loyalty,” including, as it does, the thought of devotion and faithfulness, when used in connection with God and his service, serves to give an approximation.
So from now on when we refer to Loyalty remember that is a feeling that acts as a glue that help us to carefully observe all our duties towards God.
From this analysis we can understand how important this quality is for our Christian life. Especially when we read verses in the Bible like the one in “With...