Loyalty
My dad worked for the same company business nearly forty five years. The owner of the
company cared about the employees with adequate compensation and retirement benefits. In turn, the employees were faithful employees who enjoyed their work. It was a family owned company with many families lifelong friends. That no longer is an expected career path for workers today.
Today the average stay at a job location for age 25-34 is 3.6 years. Most people today will
change jobs on average 12-15 times during their career. The era of long employment for life is
clearly over. There are many factors built into the modern trend of shorter periods of
employment at multiple locations.
I’m not suggesting either is better; just using this career trend as backdrop for lesson #3 this
weekend. Our current series My Story… takes a look at the LOYALTY of a daughter-in-law
named Ruth to her mother-in-law Naomi. Tragedy strikes this family in three’s. Naomi’s
husband dies, and her two sons also die, leaving her daughter-in-laws, Ruth and Orpah, without a
husband.
In the culture of the day a woman was unemployable. Without a husband she would struggle
for survival. They were young women and could remarry and rebuild a family. Naomi released
them both to return to their homes of origin and search for new husbands. Orpah left with this
blessing but Ruth chose to STAY.
Ruth decided to STAY when it would have been easier to GO.
How does anyone really know when to STAY and when to GO? Two of the top five players in
the NBA, LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard chose new teams to play for this fall. It wasn’t a
popular decision with many fans and players.
Trusting God to STAY when you want to GO is a big trust deal with God. As we learned last
weekend, sometimes we have to STOP something in or order to START something better. We
have to prune something when it is not getting better and is no longer healthy. Life is about
trusting God more with directions to follow throughout life.
This weekend we’ll learn the pathway of STAYNG when others might say GO. I hope you can
join us again this weekend at one of our Journey gathering services: Journey Saturday @ 6 pm or
Sunday @ 10:30 am. If you are still traveling this summer and out of town, you may want to stay
engaged with us by following on our website podcast, Journey mobile app, or FB Livestream on
Sunday morning. If you have the YouVersion Bible app you can also see our notes on the live
event tab.
Loyalty today is complicated. It takes Godly wisdom and courage. The decisions we make
today determine the stories we will tell tomorrow.
See you at Journey. We’re in this together.
