Daniel 1:21 “And so Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.”
Read Daniel 1:1 – 21
When Pastor and author, Dr. David Jeremiah, inscribes copies of certain of his books, he sometimes references this passage and leaves it at that, much to the puzzling of its recipients. They often report back to him, “Pastor David, this doesn’t make any sense!”
However, what David Jeremiah has succinctly inspired the reader to do is something of great significance. Tucked away at the end of the first chapter of Daniel is a statement that provides a great paradigm for all of our lives, if we understand it correctly.
Daniel was taken to Babylon as a captive, and brainwashed to be Jewish on the outside, but Babylonian on the inside so that he could represent to the people of Judah all that King Nebuchadnezzar desired. That was the plan. But Daniel, although he took on a Babylonian name and lived in Babylon for about 70 years never became a Babylonian. He never bent his will to the desires of a pagan culture, nor did he ever worship its gods or practice its ways. He was in Babylon, but not of it.
Instead, Daniel’s will was to serve and to worship the one true God, and that is just exactly what he did. So that when men seeking to destroy Daniel and his reputation sought a reason to defame him, the only thing they could accuse him of was that he worshipped his God too often! And so Daniel was able to remain true to his God, Yahweh, through the rules of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, and finally of Cyrus. And it was under the rule of Cyrus that Daniel was able to see the return of the people of Judah from Babylonian exile.
God honored the faithfulness of Daniel, and his legacy is written forever in the pages of Scripture. So there is much to be said from this short little verse, and we should all aspire to be people of Daniel’s character, never bending to any circumstance that brings shame to the name of God, but rather to cling to the will of God to sustain us, so that all could be said of us is in our absence is that we worshipped God too much.
(Portions of this were borrowed from one of Dr. David Jeremiah’s radio broadcasts, ‘Turning Point’.)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Truth and Lies
Lately, I've been thinking alot about this topic. What I think is scary to realize is that when I was in school, it was popular to believe that truth depended on the person. In other words, what might be true and right for me might not be true and right for another person.
That's crazy. How can that even possibly be? If, for example, I am to say "Lying is wrong," and someone else is to say "Lying is okay, once in a while, depending on the circumstance," how can I ever know if that person is telling the truth?
I think we have all been guilty of doing this from time to time though. It's called situational ethics which simply means that if the right set of circumstances comes up, it might force us NOT to be truthful. When I was discussing this with some 5th adn 6th graders, they weren't sure about what the right answer was to this question: Are there ever any circumstances in which it's okay to lie?
They quickly answered, "No." Because that's what they've been taught and conditioned to think. "But what about surprise parties?" I asked. "Don't you have to lie about them?" Silence. So, is lying right in this circumstance? A trick question. What I was trying to get them to realize is that lies - real lies - come from hearts whose aim is to hurt someone else or that come from some sort of selfish motivation. "No, officer, I didn't realize there was a stop sign there." That sort of thing.
Once upon a time I used to think that there were so many gray areas when it comes to morality. That's because I bought into the lie of situational ethics. The only ethical system I should be buying into, however, is the one that the Bible lays out for me. And in this system I've found very very little room for gray.
A final thought: Proverbs 26:28 - "A lying tongue hates those it hurts..."
That's crazy. How can that even possibly be? If, for example, I am to say "Lying is wrong," and someone else is to say "Lying is okay, once in a while, depending on the circumstance," how can I ever know if that person is telling the truth?
I think we have all been guilty of doing this from time to time though. It's called situational ethics which simply means that if the right set of circumstances comes up, it might force us NOT to be truthful. When I was discussing this with some 5th adn 6th graders, they weren't sure about what the right answer was to this question: Are there ever any circumstances in which it's okay to lie?
They quickly answered, "No." Because that's what they've been taught and conditioned to think. "But what about surprise parties?" I asked. "Don't you have to lie about them?" Silence. So, is lying right in this circumstance? A trick question. What I was trying to get them to realize is that lies - real lies - come from hearts whose aim is to hurt someone else or that come from some sort of selfish motivation. "No, officer, I didn't realize there was a stop sign there." That sort of thing.
Once upon a time I used to think that there were so many gray areas when it comes to morality. That's because I bought into the lie of situational ethics. The only ethical system I should be buying into, however, is the one that the Bible lays out for me. And in this system I've found very very little room for gray.
A final thought: Proverbs 26:28 - "A lying tongue hates those it hurts..."
Monday, March 31, 2008
Seeking "Who"s
Wy wife came back from a night of women's ministry at the church we attend. During her time of prayer that night, she felt like the Lord spoke into her life, "You're a WHO."
When she told me this during the course of our conversation that night, I laughed at her. Not demeaning what God said to her, but chuckling at the way that God does choose to speak to us.
Please keep in mind that we pastor children, from ages 0-6th grade. So to be told that you're a WHO is hysterical in light of Dr. Suess' classic "Horton Hears a Who" about which a motion picture was recently released.
In this movie Horton begins to hear voices. He isn't sure where they are coming from at first but he eventually discovers that they are coming from "somewhere up there." Curious about the source of the voice, Horton begins to inquire and explore its origin. What he ultimately discovers is a world that he never knew existed.
A fair amount of time passed after my wife's experience, and I soon forgot all about that night. But as I was sitting in my office today, for some unexplicable reason, the words came back to me: "You're a WHO." I stopped my work for a few moments, and I was just sitting there thinking about those three simple words. It was then that I felt God provide an explanation that really connected with me.
I am a WHO. My wife and I are WHOS. Our job is to pastor children; we begin the process for them of exploring spiritual truth. It's a world of which they know very little, and a world that they might not otherwise know exists. So we teach them about it and we exemplify it for them. When society seems to tell us that we are making them more narrow-minded, we can know that we are actually making them open-minded, because finding God at an early age is the best kind of freedom anyone can hope to have.
At some point we all actually need to be a WHO to someone. We need to open someone's eyes to the great love that God has for them. But who is your Horton? It's definitely a question that begs an answer (and an action plan)!
When she told me this during the course of our conversation that night, I laughed at her. Not demeaning what God said to her, but chuckling at the way that God does choose to speak to us.
Please keep in mind that we pastor children, from ages 0-6th grade. So to be told that you're a WHO is hysterical in light of Dr. Suess' classic "Horton Hears a Who" about which a motion picture was recently released.
In this movie Horton begins to hear voices. He isn't sure where they are coming from at first but he eventually discovers that they are coming from "somewhere up there." Curious about the source of the voice, Horton begins to inquire and explore its origin. What he ultimately discovers is a world that he never knew existed.
A fair amount of time passed after my wife's experience, and I soon forgot all about that night. But as I was sitting in my office today, for some unexplicable reason, the words came back to me: "You're a WHO." I stopped my work for a few moments, and I was just sitting there thinking about those three simple words. It was then that I felt God provide an explanation that really connected with me.
I am a WHO. My wife and I are WHOS. Our job is to pastor children; we begin the process for them of exploring spiritual truth. It's a world of which they know very little, and a world that they might not otherwise know exists. So we teach them about it and we exemplify it for them. When society seems to tell us that we are making them more narrow-minded, we can know that we are actually making them open-minded, because finding God at an early age is the best kind of freedom anyone can hope to have.
At some point we all actually need to be a WHO to someone. We need to open someone's eyes to the great love that God has for them. But who is your Horton? It's definitely a question that begs an answer (and an action plan)!
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