Loyalty

This morning on my way to the 'Widget Factory" (aka work) i heard the morning drive DJ's talk about a study that says people are more loyal to their soda pop brand (i.e. Dr Pepper) than their employer.  You can read the Reuter's report HERE.  I only caught a part of their discussion on the air as my mind wandered at some point and i think i might have actually just zoned out during part of it.

I thought to my own situation and began to think i must be an odd duck.  I stayed with the Army National Guard for twenty two years, and until recently, i was with the same civilain employer for over 14 years and i would not have left that company if they had not left themselves out in the cold.  I remember once upon a time when a co-worker "jumped ship" for greener pastures only to receive a phone call from him six months later asking me to share his resume with the boss.  I did so, but the boss in turn took the resume and dropped it in his trash can.

In my situation i am more loyal to my employer than my soda brand.  I know there are times when i don't feel like drinking Dr Pepper.  I'd rather have a Coke, or a Mr Pibb.  Sometimes even a Mountain Dew (Voltage is dangerous good in my opinion).  But when i am not "feeling it" at work i am not out looking for a new job.  I do not court other employers to try and get the better deal.

Maybe i need to reconsider my outlook.  I know corporate America is not really loyal to their employees.  When times are tough corporate America will not hesitate to layoff workforce, out source jobs to other countries, or even just not provide pay raises or just cut benefits.  When the corporations are not loyal to their workforce, it is hard for a work force to be loyal to the corporation.

I have mentioned this before, i am not anti-union, but i am not seeing how some of the practices really endear themselves to the world.  I will not elaborate here.  But a case in point where the Corporations and Workforce are mutually not looking out for the other.  The NFL.  PLayers are not trying to cause harm to the NFL as a whole, but they are rarely loyal to the team the play for.  If a better offer comes along, more times than not the player will take the deal.  I don't blame them because when the time comes and said player's performance is not up to snuff the team will cut them contract or not.  "It's just business" is a common phrase.

I feel that is a shame on the whole.  But, such things are bound to happen.  Generally people look after themselves, and that is true from the Billionare owner to the minimum wage floor sweeper.

In the garden God was very specific, "“You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”" (Genesis 2:16b-17, ESV emphesis mine), and yet we (mankind) are not content with everything save one.  We want the whole kit and kabodle. Later on God gives us the ten commandments, which are in essence, 1) No other gods before Him, 2) No idols to bow down and worship to/of, 3) Do not take the name of the Lord God in vain, 4) Remember the Sabbath, the 7th day, keep it Holy and a day of rest, 5) Honor your father and mother, 6) Do not murder, 7) Do not commit adultry, 8) Do not steal, 9) Do not bear false witness against your neighbor, 10) Do not covet what your neighbor has.  (Exodus 20).  If one is honest with one's self... how many times a day are any number of these commandments encroached upon and/or broken by us (mankind, both as individuals and as a race).  And yet, God, the creator of the heavens and earth, is loyal to us.

He has not just cast us aside and allowed us to receive the punishment He foretold us to expect, and that we justly deserve, without providing a way for the penalty of these transgressions to be paid for.  In His mercy and kindness, in His love for us, He has not forced us to accept Jesus Christ as the propitiation for our sins.  He reveles Himself to the world in various ways. He "pings" the minds of the people of His creation and allows them to decide of they accept what He is saying/showing, or if we will listen to "“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”" (Genesis 3:4b-5, ESV).

He shows his "loyalty" (i.e. grace & mercy) to me by not exercising His just judgment immediately, by sending His Son, my Lord Jesus Christ, to die in my place and to rise again to defeat death.  He remains loyal in that so long as we draw breath it is possible to receive this propitiation, His gift to us, and that he does not hasten such a time so as to cut short any such opportunity.  And He does this, despite our daily lack of loyalty to Him (i.e our daily violation of the verses above).  Now THAT is loyalty in perfection.  How can i not strive to be loyal to the things He brings to me in my life, or Him?