Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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 Christian witness among people of other faith.

Daniel: 1:1-21
Vs  17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and skill in every aspect.


The Book of Daniel chapter brings out the ardent faith of four youngsters and their very difficult life experiences. As Christians, we will face pressure to compromise our faith. Daniel and his three friends faced this compromise in the early life. They were taken captive to Babylon and served under their government.  


The world will try to conform you into their mold, that means, they will brainwash you. These Hebrew young teenagers were being brain washed into a Babylonian worldview. The same pattern employed by Nebuchadnezzar to draw Daniel and his friends away from the Lord is employed all around us today.  
 

Daniel 1:8 shows that Daniel was determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or with the wine he drunk. So he asked permission from the chief officials not to defile himself.  It is easier to resist temptation if you have thought through your convictions well before the temptation arrives. Eating this kind of meat was against Masonic Law and it was also food that was sacrificed to idols. Daniel and his friends made their decision to be faithful to the laws of God before they were faced with the king’s delicacies, so they did not hesitate to stick with their convictions.

King Nebuchadnezzar wanted to make the young Jewish men, Daniel and his friends, like the Babylonians. He gave them Babylonian names that assimilated with their culture, a Babylonian education, and even tried to change their God’s standards in a culture that did not honor God. This passage teaches us that as God’s people, while we adjust to the culture where we are at - the society we live in, our place of work, our friends circle etc,  we should never compromise God’s laws or our Christian standards of living. We have to be different for our Lord Jesus Christ. Many a times our Christian way of living is the only BIBLE others will get a chance to read. So it’s very important that we Christians mindfully live our lives in a culture that tempts us to live otherwise.

PRAYER
LORD GIVE US THE STRENGTH TO WITHSTAND TEMPTATIONS AND TRIALS.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Trust in the Lord and He will never forsake you.

Regi Mathew, The Mar Thoma Church Staten Island.
Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church

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