Loyalty

I read a definition of loyalty that I really appreciated. It said loyalty is the willingness to make an investment or personal sacrifice to strengthen a relationship.

Why is loyalty important? Loyalty is the determining factor between true friends and acquaintances. Loyalty is a foundational trait in a marriage, in a friendship and even between covenant relationships in church.

What is loyalty? When I lived in Waynesville, NC there was a little restaurant that was just across the railroad tracks from my office. I could walk to it in a matter of 20 seconds. I regularly visited the restaurant. Someone might have assumed that I was loyal customer of that restaurant because I often ate there for lunch. But I wasn’t. I never recommended it to anyone because the food was rather poor, I would tell my friends the food was lousy. And if ever there had been another restaurant opened up near it, I would have never gone back to the other one. I wasn’t loyal, it was just convenient.

I was thinking that it would be dangerous to place convenience as a foundational trait in our most important relationships and if we do then they are doomed for trouble. Why? Assuming you are a married man, what if an attractive woman shows interest in you? What if your friend disappoints you? What if a new church opens up? Loyalty stays the course while convenience jumps ship.

How do you develop loyalty? Simple, you invest in the relationship. People always stay interested in their investments. I learned this when I invested some money in the stock market. Suddenly, my interest in watching a particular stock grew quickly all because I now had an investment in it.

It may be time for you to look at your most important relationships and decide if you are really investing in them in a way that develops loyalty.