The First Loyalty

Good morning on this new day! In Christ, we know that our first loyalty is to God. As Jesus did all that his Father gave him to do, we pledge our first loyalty to God. However, I'll admit that I am not quite 100% good at it like Jesus was in his lifetime here on earth. I think I am more like Peter in at times getting it right, and at other times giving the Master reason to call me a name none of us wants to be called by. I am also more like Paul in crying out to God over not doing what I want to do, also knowing what I should not do, and then doing it anyway. One day I am like the faithless Israelites on their bad days, and the next I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might. I hear the minister speaking of spiritual stability, and I seem to have none of it. How can God put up with a variable quantity like me!

In another dark day, I submitted to the atoning power of the cross of Jesus. I surrendered to the grace that comes through faith in Christ the Lord. In that moment, I gave my first loyalty to God. And it never went away. A time of trial or the words of the sinful nature still within me may cause me to feel or think that I have gone south on the Lord, but it is not my strength that holds me close to Jesus. The Good Shepherd keeps His sheep. All we like sheep have gone astray, and each time we little sheeps wander away in this world, the Savior fetches us back to the herd. No Shepherd is more diligent, none more loyal to His sheep. You and I are not held close through our works or feelings, we are held close by the love of Christ Jesus.

Mistakes we will make, tribulations and troubles they will come, but always we are loyal to our Lord through faith and trust in Him alone. Praise God for the day!

Bucky