Why is Loyalty Important?

My first answer was that unless you had loyalty, you had no unity, and united you stand, divided you fall. I suppose it may run a little deeper than that. What demands loyalty? Firstly, God does. We are his creation, and those of us who are saved are his children. It amazes sometimes how little we show the loyalty to God that we should. No, I’m not saying that we’re going off and serving the devil, but loyalty to God can be shown by how we serve him, and how much we make an effort to do so. Another thing that deserves loyalty is one’s country. Particularly in this country, where we are blessed to be “free and independent states.” Not only free states, but free churches. Yet we often do not show the loyalty that the country deserves. We mock the flag, mock the leaders, forget the founders, and insult the foundations. Are these things loyalty? But why is it so important that we be loyal. Why can’t we just all go around looking out for number one and serving whoever pays the fastest, the mostest? Easy. If we don’t the nation falls apart.       Take a look at Rome for instance. In the height of the empire, the soldiers were the best in the world, and they were volunteers who served for their country. All were Roman citizens. As the nation declined, however, the soldiers became paid mercenaries and foreigners. They lacked loyalty, unity, and vision. Their allegiances were not to the emperor, they were to a commander, if they had allegiances at all. Most did what they did for pay, and as a result of this conflict in the military, they started fighting amongst themselves. As if they didn’t have enough on their hands already, dealing with outside tribal attacks, now they had to bicker with one another. Another example. The American Revolution. George Washington had been placed in command of all American forces. One man did not think that was very cool, however. That man was the other candidate, a man by the name of General Lee. He was placed under Washington, even though he had more military experience. He, to put it nicely, caused issues. He rarely did what Washington asked him to do, and midway through the war, went off on a merry little vacation. Then he came back,  plugging himself as always, hoping that the Continental Congress would remove Washington from command, and give it to him. Oddly enough, he was so overconfident that he was later captured by British soldiers, and when in custody of the Brits, became so desperate for a position of authority that he began offering General Howe advice on how he thought the British could win the war. After he was captured, the war went much better for the Americans. Maybe a coincidence, but more than likely a contributing factor.

            So of course loyalty is a big deal, and it turns out I was right in my initial assessment. The importance of staying true to your leader was much greater in a day and age when generals led troops from the field, and the decision to obey or disobey could hold the fate of the whole army, sometimes entire nations, in its hands. Today, we forget about that “sin of disloyalty” which an early English preacher once spoke of when the nation was being overrun by the Danes. We consider it expedient to do whatever suits us most, ignoring the idea of staying true to those who are responsible for some area over us, sometimes even our safety. Some say that loyalty is contingent on doing what is right, and I agree with that. However, perhaps the most interesting thing to note of all is that in times where men were much more likely to do the right thing than today, loyalty abounded much more than one could imagine it doing so today.