Faith Matters – Loyalty

By Pastor Larry Cook

I consider myself a dinosaur. I begin preaching before most of the current pastors in our community were born; in fact my 30 years as pastor of Bear Point is more years than most have been alive. So, I guess I can speak of a time when I remember the word loyalty was used for more than a sports team. I have nothing against being loyal for our home town team but I remember when the local neighborhood  store, gas station and other stores in the community could count on the loyalty of the people who lived in that town. Of course that was before Wal-mart and malls. Boy I am old aren’t I; no Wal-mart or malls. But I am concerned about this missing loyalty today. And I see this in four areas.  So stay with me for a while.

In Matthew 26:40 Jesus was facing His crowning event His dying for your sins and mine. He had asked the disciples to stay and pray for Him as He went a little farther into the garden. But after agonizing in prayer He returned to find them asleep. I am afraid we are asleep today when it comes to our loyalty to God, His Word, Church and family. Where has the loyalty gone?

I know that there has always been those who hop from church to church but I believe it is the worst that I have seen in the 44 years I have been preaching. There is no loyalty. Something goes wrong and we’re gone. I have been a Cardinal fan for 66 years and yes even when they didn’t win. And look at those Cub fans, I couldn’t leave that alone. But really why is there no loyalty to church today?

And then there is the topic of God and His Word. What happened to by faith accepting what God and His Word teaches. All I hear today is prove it. But let me ask you a question. Can anyone really prove evolution? No, I mean really prove it. Can you put it in a test tube and show how evolution occurs. What about the wind? Can you show me the wind? I know there is wind for I see the effects of it. And I know that there is a God and that His Word is real for I have seen time and again what God and His Word can do in the lives of people.

But most of all, I want to address the loyalty to the family. We live in a time when family has been declared obsolete. By that I mean we have been told it takes a community to raise a child, or that the federal government knows better how to raise our children and we could go on and on. Whatever happened to the concept that parents could raise their children. There was a time when moms and dads would spend time with their children in church, in their activities, and in their home lives. Where it was not up to the teacher, the church and the babysitter to raise our kids; and I realize that people have to work but what about the work that is needed at home. It is time we showed to our church, our families and most of all to God and His Word that they have a priority in our lives above all other things. Let’s wake up and see that when we lose, family, church and God we are lost.

(The Rev. Larry Cook is pastor of Bear Point Baptist Church, located on Route 154 west of Sesser.)