Dare to Stand Alone

Daniel Chapter 1

Hey All, Lately in my bible-readings I’ve been being challenged by the need for us as Christians to stand up for our faith. As Christians we are called to Obey God first and foremost with all our lives. We must put him first in everything that we do and always work for his glory. We see in Daniel Chapter 1 that Daniel and his friends do this. Here’s a summary of the story: What happens in Daniel Chapter 1 is that the king of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) takes a number of young men from Isreal and seeks to assimilate them into Babylonian culture. He changes their names and teaches them the Babylonian language and customs. He also gave them his royal food to eat. On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with this, but God’s law to the Jews was that they were not to eat food that was sacrificed to idols (or False ‘gods’). Most of the exiles just went ahead and ate the food, but Daniel and his three friends refused to do so. They refused to disobey God, even though it was the easy option and instead they took a stand and obeyed him. They asked if they might have vegetables and water instead – they chose the hard option and obeyed God. At first they were not allowed to do this, but they refused to give up and found someone who would let them do it. The result was that God blessed them and made them fitter and wiser then all the other Jews, and that in turn resulted in everyone being fed vegetables and water. This was their first stand in obeying God and it led them to making many more bigger stands later on (See Daniel 2,3,4,5 and 6)

So how does this apply to us? The point which I want to draw out of the passage is that they were courageous enough to stand out and obey God, even though it cost them. We must do the same. We are called to obey God - to be holy and godly in an unholy and depraved world. It doesn’t have to start big, but you have to make a start if you are ever going to make progress.

What sort of things can you do? Well for me, it means that at school, when all my friends are swearing, making crude jokes and talking about ungodly things, I have to first of all not join in and secondly (what’s much harder for me), tell them to stop as well as look for chances to point them to God and tell them that this isn’t how he wants us to live. It means not messing around in class when the teacher leaves the room. It means spending time reading the bible and praying every day when everyone else is doing what they want to do.  What does it mean for you? We Christians are called to be salt and light in the world (Matt 5:13-16) This means that we are called to stop sin and point people to God. Will you obey God’s call?

If your not a Christian then whats your choice? Will you turn to God and be saved? Or will you ignore him and live life your own way, which results in eternal destruction in hell?

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake