Day 4: Loyal At The Right Cost

“Now swear to me by the Lord that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you. Give me some guarantee that when Jericho is conquered, you will let me live, along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families.”

Loyalty has a way of overriding previous opinions, conclusions, and outlooks regarding individuals and legacies.

History typically remembers only those with the strongest of convictions, who remain loyal to a fault, for better or for worse.

Loyalty leaves a legacy.

Loyalty has the power to transform reputations.

Where does someone’s loyalty lie when their back is against the wall? The answer to that question usually defines their future. Such is the case for our next hero of the faith, a lowly prostitute-turned-saint, transformed through the supernatural loyalty she demonstrated.

With her back against the wall, we see where Rahab’s loyalty lies. When the king of Jericho breathes down her neck, demanding that she surrender harbored spies, what does she do? She disobeys. She fabricates a story to try to keep safe the presumed enemy.

Now, why would she do that? The answer seems simple: loyalty.

Here we witness Rahab pledge her allegiance to the “God in heaven above and on the earth below.” This becomes a legacy-defining moment, where we see the proverbial “fork in the road” placed in front of Rahab. She must choose.

So, too, must you choose. Will you play it safe or blaze the trail?

Will you allow the labels placed on you by others, by society, or by your mistakes to define you? Or will you, at this moment, choose to chart a different course and blaze a different trail?

Do you see shame at work in your life? Have you succumbed again and again to this false belief that your past will always define your present and future? If that describes you, then with as much passion as I can possibly muster, hear me:

It’s.

Not.

True!

You are not your mistakes. You are not your deepest regrets. You are not the sum total of your shame.

Jesus, through his sacrifice on the cross, took on the weight of all of that and by the power of his blood, healed you. Today, you have an opportunity to believe that your story can change. That as a redeemed, chosen, anointed individual, God himself has gifted you an opportunity to live life to the fullest.

But again, I insist: you must choose. Loyalty to a lie or loyalty to the Lord of lords?

The life of a Trailblazer waits for you, at a cost. But it’s a price worth paying every single time.

THE QUESTION: Is there anything in your life that you’ve pledged your loyalty to over Jesus? What might you do to recommit to the trail God has called you to blaze?