GodSprings - April 08, 2016

Should I Walk With/Against the Tide?

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Daniel 1:8 (NIV)

Former president Ronald Reagan once had an aunt who took him to a cobbler for a pair of new shoes. The cobbler asked young Reagan, "Do you want square toes or round toes?" Unable to decide, Reagan didn't answer, so the cobbler gave him a few days. Several days later the cobbler saw Reagan on the street and asked him again what kind of toes he wanted on his shoes. Reagan still couldn't decide, so the shoemaker replied, "Well, come by in a couple of days. Your shoes will be ready."

When the future president did so, he found one square-toed and one round-toed shoe! "This will teach you to never let people make decisions for you," the cobbler said to his indecisive customer. "I learned right then and there," Reagan said later, "if you don't make your own decisions, someone else will."

Life is full of choices, and being a Christian sometimes means choosing to go against the grain. While you cannot control everything that happens to you, you can choose how you are going to respond to what happens to you. Doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord is not always the easiest choice to make, but is always the right choice to make.

Daniel was a godly man who was sent to live in ungodly Babylon. He was one of the young men who was taken captive from Jerusalem and selected to serve in King Nebuchadnezzar’s high court. Once in Babylon, Daniel and three of his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, were enrolled in a three-year training program where they were being pressured to conform to the Babylonian lifestyle. They were supposed to eat like Babylonians, dress like Babylonians, and think like Babylonians. Even their names were changed in an attempt to strip them of their identity. But nothing could strip them of their commitment to God.

Daniel and his three friends drew a line in the sand and made the decision that they were going to take a stand for God. They purposed in their hearts not to eat the food that was being provided to them by the king’s administration. Daniel and these young men refused to eat food that was sure to be ritually unclean (not prepared according to Jewish Law) as well as morally unclean (offered to pagan idols). This was a courageous choice that could have had devastating consequences, but God chose to honor them because they honored Him.

Daniel and these young men refused to go with the flow. They refused to do something just because everyone else was doing it. The world never will stop trying to make us conform to its way of thinking and living. Therefore, we must have faith and obedience to overcome the temptations and pressures of the world. To take a stand for God tomorrow, we must be committed to Him today. We must be standing with God in order to take a stand for God.

Our lives are the sum of all our choices, and sometimes making the choice to go against the grain means that we will get a few splinters along the way. But choosing to remain faithful to God is the only way to go. Daniel was a man who had the courage of his convictions. He lived in one the most godless cultures of the ancient world, yet he remained faithful to God. God is looking for people like Daniel and his friends. Can we be those who will stand by godly convictions and who will make godly choices that glorify God, even in the face of danger?