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Blog
Loyalty Programs
April 4, 2025
Loyalty Programs
The online version of Merriam-Webster dictionary gives recent examples in media of the word or concept that one is searching, For “loyalty,” here is the most recent: “Potbelly: Members of the free Potbelly Perks loyalty program can buy one Original or Big sandwich through Friday, March 21, and get a free one on the next visit.” That seems to be what passes for loyalty these days: Potbelly perks.
All of the recent examples given were from merchants seeking to establish a loyalty program whereby they could keep the customer coming back. It seems now that every chain has one. What must you do to enroll? Carry the card (your wallet will get fat) or download the app (you now have so many apps you can’t find what you want on your phone). In addition they want your phone number so they can send you a regular barrage of texts, and of course your email address. Spam. What do you get in return? Often, you don’t know for sure. I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten anything for the dollars spent at O’Reilly’s Auto Parts.
Now does it follow that you signed up for a loyalty program and if you shop somewhere else, you are being disloyal? Hardly. The meaning of the term “loyal” has been seriously downgraded. The merchant really has no obligation to you, nor you to them. It is just a trick on their part to get you to make their store a habit.
That’s a long lead-in to what the Bible says about loyalty. And as for that, there’s not much. It is not a common word in the Bible. The only verse in NASB, my preferred translation, is in Nehemiah: 13:14 Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out my loyal deeds which I have performed for the house of my God and its services. The word “loyal” is from the important Hebrew word chesed, used over 200 times in the OT, and only translated as “loyal” once. I don’t think it should have even been translated “loyal” here! The word “loyalty” shows up only 6 times, and again is from the same Hebrew word, which in all the other cases, has better words by which it is translated.
So there we have it – I’m kind of down on this whole “loyalty” thing. It is a modern word that is used to trivialize a deep and dear concept about fidelity to the covenant which God, and not Potbelly, has made with His children. “Fidelity” is a “faith” word, and so it has the idea of keeping faith with the covenant with God whereby we uphold our end (the light end) of the covenant, even as God upholds the heavy end. Nehemiah labored in a very difficult role to fulfill the calling that God had placed upon his life, and he did so in accordance with the covenant, displaying godly qualities even in the face of difficulty and opposition. Participation in this covenant is a gift of grace, and yet that inclusion comes with the desire and responsibility to reflect the character of God in the outworking of His will and ways. It’s living in right relationship with God, a relationship that is given, but then lived-out in practical ways.
Potbelly’s loyalty program includes no covenant, no grace, no relationship, and the cheapest of rewards. March 21 has passed, and your free sandwich has expired. That’s loyalty for you.
- “Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart and soul to God, through Christ, with the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to the Word, for the good of the church, with submission, in faith, to the will of God.” - John Bunyan
