The Loser in Disloyalty
1 Kings 16:21
"Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; and half followed Omri."
The verse above is the result of a disloyal person. A man by the name of Zimri slew a king which resulted in the people making Omri king of Israel. God killed Zimri because of his wickedness; however, the result of his disloyalty lived on after his death. You see in the verse above that the people of Israel were divided. One part of the people followed Tibni, and the other followed Omri. The disloyalty of one man divided a people who were once united, and the division caused many people to die in war.
The losers from disloyalty are rarely seen. We normally remember the person who caused the disloyalty, but rarely do we see those who lose because of it. Throughout my lifetime, I have seen men split churches, and the result is always tragic. Recently, I heard of a disloyal staff man who took several people from a good church and went across town to start his own church. The disloyalty of this man has caused tremendous turmoil in the church that he split. Sadly, that good church has to deal with the results of this man's disloyalty. He may eventually move on, which is always the case, but those affected by it rarely recover. When I look at this situation, I am reminded of the losers in disloyalty.
The first losers I think of are the people. Disloyalty always hurts people. I think of a man who split a church years ago, and good but simple people followed this man. All of those people who followed that man are not in church today. One man in particular dropped out of church and has paid a dear price because he wouldn't get right with God. This man has lost his wife, children and his health, but won't get right with God because of how badly he was hurt through the disloyalty of the man who split the church. Though some don't like to talk about this subject, we must be cognizant that people are always hurt because of disloyalty. The person who caused the disloyalty may move on, but many people will not and sadly they will face God's judgement because they dropped out of church.
The second loser caused by disloyalty is the name of Christ. A disloyal person may have great reasons for their disloyalty, but the people of the city normally know the truth. Because they know the truth, the name of Christ is hurt. If people would think about how much they hurt the name of Christ by their disloyalty, I believe some would reconsider their actions. The name of Christ will always be hurt if you are disloyal.
Finally, the third loser caused by disloyalty is righteousness and truth. Most disloyalty is caused by someone covering the truth about a situation. Furthermore, people will often go live a life of sin after the hurt of disloyalty hits them. Righteousness and truth are often seen as the cause of the pain from disloyalty and not the disloyalty itself.
Christian, let me warn you about those who may seem to be sincere people, but are actually disloyal. My advice when someone is asking you to go against authority is to take a step back and be sure that authority is disobeying the Scriptures. Don't be part of disloyalty. You don't want to live with the regrets of those who are hurt from disloyalty hanging over your head for the rest of your life. The best way to avoid disloyalty is to stay loyal to truth, and you will find that truth will always dictate on which side you should stand.