The Living Word: Loyalty
By Leora Schmidt
thelivingword@mail.com
In a group discussion the question was posed, “How can we be assured that we shall not be shaken out of loyalty to God when temptation and trial come?”
One answered, “I believe that if we spend time with the Bible every day, if we read our Bible and pray we will be safe.”
Another countered, “More is needed than daily Bible reading and prayer. Look at the Bible account of the Jews. Many who worshiped and prayed and fasted were all the while plotting the death of Jesus, the One whom they claimed to be looking for. Down through the centuries since then men who have had great light have turned to ways of darkness, yet continued to read their Bible and pray daily.”
He continued, “The only safety lies in giving the citadel of our soul to the safekeeping of God. Our imagination is the citadel. We must come to the place where every thought is brought into captivity to Jesus Christ. (see 2 Corinthians 10:5.) Only then can we be safe during testing times.”
As one historical example, remember the three Hebrews who were willing to die rather than forfeit their loyalty to their God. It was a ridiculously simple test of loyalty...All that was asked of them was to bow down to the golden image when the music played. But they refused to bend even an inch toward that gold statue that would have classified them as idolaters. Therefore they were thrown into a furnace so hot that it instantly killed the men who tossed them in. When God honored their loyalty by preserving their lives, King Nebuchadnezzar ultimately stated, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.” Daniel 3:28
Fellow believer, let us pray that God may grant us today, and every day, a mind so focused and anchored in Jesus Christ that we will not be shaken by any temptation or circumstance.