Lead Strong: Leadership Lessons From The Bible - Part 1Sample

Leaders Are Loyal

There are so many rich and yet sad lessons to be gleaned from this text. A son betraying a father, a father running from a son. A story of generational sin and betrayal that not only affected a family but a whole nation. I’m going to gather that you’ve had a moment where betrayal has ravished the unity of your church and maybe even your family. And if you’re anything like me, you will want to escape to your own mountainside free from all the drama!

So what does it mean to be loyal? The heart of loyalty is faithfulness. Faithfulness is the belief that a person is dependable and can be trusted. Loyalty creates a bond that believes the best of one another and cultivates a relationship of trust. So it's no wonder David and Absalom struggled with loyalty.

But here’s the hard part of loyal friendships - it involves people! People who don’t always play nice, who abuse your investment in them and sadly (or gratefully depending on your perspective) leave you. And when disloyalty takes place, when trust is broken, there’s a part of us that breaks, too.

The good news is that we have a God who is ALWAYS loyal. A faithful God who loves us even when we are unfaithful. A God who gives us two key attributes of loyalty throughout the Bible to create healthy expectations of loyal friendships.

First, be strategic about your relationships. Oftentimes you will be on the receiving end of deeper conversations because of your position, feeling pressured to be their BFF. But even King David had his thirty-three mighty men and only three were in his inner circle. Jesus had the disciples with only three of them in his inner circle. I believe that’s a model for us, too.

Second, forgive freely. Loyalty allows for forgiveness to flow freely and for trust to be earned.

We all need community even when loyalty feels shaky and our hearts have been wounded. God often uses our times of disappointment to grow us closer to one another. There’s no greater friendship than the one that remains faithful in our failures, forgives freely and leaves us feeling fully loved and known.

By Trisha Davis