on necklaces and rings. They are among the
greatest statements and definitions of loyalty
ever written. The entire rest of the story hinges
on what Ruth said.
But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you
or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go,
and where you stay I will stay. Your people will
be my people and your God my God. Where you
die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the
Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even
death separates you and me.” When Naomi
realized that Ruth was determined to go with
her, she stopped urging her (Ruth 1:16-18).
13. McKenzie Ingram, “How, And Why, You Should Calculate
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV),” Business 2 Community,
October
24,
2016,
www.business2community.com/
brandviews/act-on/calculate-customer-lifetime-value-
clv-01687546.
14. Frederick F. Reichheld and Phil Schefter, “The Economics
of E-Loyalty,” Harvard Business School, July 10, 2000, https://
hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/the-economics-of-e-loyalty.
15. Kothari, “Customer Loyalty.”
16. Quincy Seale, “Loyalty Quotes,” KeepInspiringMe.com,
www.keepinspiring.me/loyalty-quotes/.
17. “2018 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index,”
http://brandkeys.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/2018-
Category-Winners-tableFINAL.pdf.
Excerpted with permission from Character Still Counts by
James Merritt, published by Harvest House Publishers,
Eugene, Oregon, 97408. Copyright 2020, James Merritt. www.
harvesthousepublishers.com
Do you want to know what loyalty sounds like?
Play those words over again. Do you want to
know what loyalty looks like? Picture Ruth in
your mind. Do you want to know what loyalty
smells like? Let the aroma of those words linger
in the air. In that powerful statement, she tells
us four ways we should manifest loyalty in our
lives.
8. Cited in Keiningham and Aksoy, Why Loyalty Matters, 6.
9. Keiningham and Aksoy, Why Loyalty Matters, 6.
10. Ibid., 8.
11. Ibid.
12. Cited in Amit Kothari, “Customer Loyalty–5 Surprising
Facts About Its Importance,” Tallyfy, https://tallyfy.com/
customer-loyalty-importance/.
BUY NOW
James Merritt (PhD) is a pastor, author, past president of the Southern
Baptist Convention, and host of the Touching Lives television program,
seen nationwide and in 122 countries. As a national voice on faith and
leadership, Merritt has been interviewed by Time, Fox News, MSNBC,
and 60 Minutes. He resides with his family outside Atlanta, Georgia.
9