The word loyal means, “unswerving in allegiance, faithful to a cause or one’s lawful sovereign” (Webster).  How we live our lives depends a lot on the one, or ones, to whom we are loyal.  As Christians, our loyalty to God should come before anyone or anything else.  All the other loyalties in our lives should be based upon our loyalty to God.  For example, my loyalty to my wife should begin with my desire to please God.  I am loyal to her because I am loyal to God and that is what He wants me to be.

This does not mean that we should not be loyal to our spouses for their sakes because we should be.  Our spouses deserve our loyalty and so do others in our lives.  We should be loyal to brethren, to our jobs and those for whom we work, and to anyone we have made a commitment to, or with whom we have entered into any kind of an agreement.  God, however, must come first (Matthew 6:33).

When our loyalty to God is stronger than any other, no one can get in the way of our serving God and being faithful to Him.  It is in this area where we sometimes see people demonstrating misplaced loyalties.  Here are some examples.

Some put their jobs before God.  They demonstrate fierce loyalty to their occupation, skipping the assembling of the saints if they need to get something done at work, deceiving themselves into thinking they have to do it because it is work.  I know there are times when brethren have to work during times of worship services, but there is a difference between having to work and just do so because of a strong commitment to the job.  While being a good worker is commendable, even encouraged by God (Ephesians 6:5-7), putting your job before God is a demonstration of misplaced loyalty.  Your job may help you to have a good living, but it cannot save your soul.  Only God can do that, and it is to Him that you should be loyal above everything else.

Another example of misplaced loyalty is when we put family before God.  Sadly, this is a common occurrence.  When push comes to shove, too many in the body of Christ choose family over, not only brethren, but God Himself.  It is definitely a case of misplaced loyalty.  They do things like miss worship services when family comes to town, or refuse to withdraw from family members who are disciplined by the local church.  These are members who consistently put their feelings for family above their feelings for God and you can rest assured that God takes notice of it.  Jesus warned us about this.

Matthew 10:37 (ESV)
³⁷  Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Yes, we should place a high priority on our biological families.  Family is important, just not as important as God, or even as our spiritual family.  Jesus let people know who He viewed as His real family.  When someone told Him that His mother and brothers wanted to speak to Him, He replied,  “Who is my mother and my brothers?”  Then He pointed at His disciples and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:49-50).

Let’s put God above everyone and everything else in our lives.  To do less is to have misplaced loyalties, and it is a flaw that needs fixing.