The NBA Trade Deadline has come and gone with a great deal of movement across the league. Some teams helped a big playoff push with their deals while others demonstrated their concern to clear cap space for the summer.

One of the more interesting trades involved the Dallas Mavericks trading Harrison Barnes to the Sacramento Kings during their game. A few years ago, Barnes signed with the Mavs as a free agent. Now he’s being shipped out of town and no longer part of their long-term plans.

Oftentimes, players are criticized when they demand to be traded instead of remain loyal to their current team. However, we also see teams do the same thing by trading away players.

After the Barnes trade, LeBron James shared his thoughts on social media about this topic: “I’m not knocking who traded him because it’s a business and you have to do what you feel what’s best but I just want this narrative to start to get REAL/CHANGE and not when a player wants to be traded or leaves a Franchise that he’s a selfish/ungrateful player but when they trade you, release, waive, cut, etc. it’s best for them!”

There is truth to LeBron’s statement. Whether a player wants to be traded or a team wants to move on from someone, there are selfish motives either way and loyalty is challenged. As fans, we know we’re more loyal than the players and the owners!

Unfortunately, strong loyalty in both sports and life is hard to find these days. Players continually switch teams, franchises move on from coaches, people often change companies, and many marriages sadly come to an end.

Loyalty is also put to the test when it comes to friendships and sticking by people during tough times. Can we honestly say we meet others in their struggle or are we more apt to distance ourselves and even move on?

Although we will always face situations where we either let people down or they turn their backs on us (“trade” us), when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and begin to follow Him, we’re promised a strong and unbreakable bond.

He doesn’t trade us when we get old or make a mistake…and He doesn’t stop loving us when our life gets hard. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice on the cross so that we could become one with God – there’s no separating that!

Paul assures us of this in Romans 8:38-39 (NLT): “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

“No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Today, we can rest in confidence that God loves us. We’re united to Him through Jesus and His loyalty is unmatched. In response to this reality, let’s be encouraged to remain loyal to Him in the way we live our lives.

I’m Bryce Johnson and you can unpack that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I’m blown away by Your love and faithfulness toward me. I’m so thankful that I can trust in the fact that nothing can separate me from Your love. Please give me the strength to remain loyal to You and demonstrate my love for You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.