Today is National Loyalty Day.

Here’s the situation: you have promised your best friend that you will spend Friday night helping him watch his little brother. Another friend calls and invites you to attend a concert featuring your absolutely favorite band. What are you going to do? Give yourself 10 points on the Loyalty Meter if you said you were going to stick with your best friend; give yourself five points if you had to think about it for more than a minute; and give yourself zero points if you decide to go to the concert.

Loyalty is all about sticking with your friends or family no matter what. In fact, the Bible tells us that the greatest evidence of genuine friendship is loyalty—loving at all times. (Take a look at 1 Corinthians 13:7.) So what does it mean to be a loyal friend? It means sticking by your friend when she is having a tough time at home. It means helping your friend with his math homework when you would rather be watching TV. It means standing by your friend when everyone else has disappeared.

Jonathan and David shared that kind of friendship. You can read about it in 1 Samuel 20. Jonathan knew that his father, King Saul, was out to get David. He knew that being David’s friend was against his father’s wishes. But David and Jonathan had vowed before God to remain friends, and so Jonathan did everything he could to help and support David. Later, David returned that loyalty when he took care of Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth. That’s the kind of loyal friends that God wants us to be.

So, on National Loyalty Day, what kind of friend are you—a fair-weather friend, or one who is there through thick or thin?

A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need (Proverbs 17:17).

To Do

Do you have a friend who has been loyal to you? Take time today to thank him or her.

Also on this day . . .

Today is National Teen Day.

1941—Cheerios hit the store shelves.

1952—Mr. Potato Head was introduced.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.