Loyalty is one thing. Stupidity is a whole other ball of wax.”
–P.W. Moore (The Devil’s Edge)
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
–2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV)
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One thing that cannot be denied is that Peter loved the Lord. He declared, as Luke recorded, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” (22:33, NKJV) Don’t be quick to deride Peter. He may have spoken in haste, not understanding the larger picture. It may have been an emotional response to heart-felt feelings, not realizing that we are not to be guided by emotions. In fact, emotions should follow decisions, not make them. Nevertheless, Peter did speak out of love and loyalty.
Every time we fail, we sin, we fall short in our obedience. We are doing the same thing Peter did. Does that mean you are not loyal to the service of the Lord? Does that mean that your heart is not right? How many times have you promised not to sin, and you do? Know this, that does not negate the promise. It is still there to be kept. Peter for sure, followed through with his promise to follow Jesus even if it meant death.
You may have read the book or seen the movie, “Lonesome Dove.” It is a story loosely based on Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight moving a herd of cattle from Texas to Colorado. I want to look a little more closely at what actually took place. Oliver Loving lay at death’s door in a bed at Fort Sumner with Charles Goodnight as his side. Loving was shot in the wrist, shattering it by a Comanche weeks earlier. But now, the stinking decay of gangrene was killing him.
The story varies at this point. Some say the doctor amputated, but was inexperienced thus causing the problem to accelerate. Other accounts read that because of his inexperience the doctor would not amputate. Either way, the death sentence was pronounced. Loving said to Goodnight, “I regret to have to be laid away in a foreign country.” Goodnight promised–a sacred vow–to take him home to Texas.
Loving died and was buried in New Mexico. Goodnight had to fulfill his obligation to deliver the herd which took months. Then he rode six hundred miles back to fulfill a promise. A lesser man, with little integrity, may have gone on his way, after all Loving was dead and buried and would never know. Proverbs 20:6, declares, “Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is really faithful?” (NLT) Goodnight was fulfilling his promise to his friend, but more importantly maintaining his integrity. It is as Bryce Dominic Valor says, “By keeping every promise, I make my word as reliable as the sunrise, and my character as solid as bedrock.”
He had Loving’s body exhumed, sealed in a tin casket filled with charcoal, and loaded into a wagon. Now get this, it wasn’t just Charles Goodnight, but the entire outfit formed a five-six hundred mile funeral procession to Weatherford, TX. Any one of those men could have found a reason, an excuse not to be there. It took nearly six months. That’s what is called stubborn loyalty. Six months to fulfill a promise, plus the months that it took to get the herd to Denver and ride back to Fort Sumner. Goodnight’s word was solid, not just a promise, but it was who he was.
The question is, how loyal are we? We do know One who was loyal. Loyal to His Father, loyal to His mission and He carried it out to the finish. Jesus could have said, “phooey,” that night in the garden. “Look at the bums over there sleeping. I’m coming home Father.” No, He was true to endure the cross, to endure the cruelty, to endure the awfulness of man’s sin coming upon His righteous body. There is little known regarding Peter. There are a few verses in Acts, we have his two letters, and there are some in church history. But I am convinced that his love for the Lord never wavered; his loyalty could never be called into question. He gives us this advice, not emotional, not out of haste, but out of the depths of his character, “Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.”. (2 Peter 3:14, NKJV)
(information regarding Loving-Goodnight taken primarily from “Brand & Backbone” by Bryce Dominic Valor)