“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
-Winston Churchill

I had this whole column planned out, but when I sat down to write it, I felt as if everything I wanted to say ended up sounding self-indulgent or preachy. Don’t you just love those days when you feel like you can’t say anything right?

So, instead, I just want to leave these comments, bits, quotes and pieces, and ask you to comment and fill in the gaps. I would love to see this turn into our first discussion here at Hope Ink.

The last few weeks, I have been pondering the book of Daniel. Though its pages are filled with hostile takeovers, strange dreams and floating hands writing on walls, I have found a common brother in Daniel.

Daniel “chose not to defile himself” with the choice food offered by Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king who defeated Judah and took many of the best and brightest young men captive to train them up to serve in his kingdom.

As I roll it around in my head, I imagine that Daniel was an oddball in the eyes of many of his fellow countrymen in captivity. There he was with an opportunity to make an impression on the most prominent king of the age. Judah was defeated, and this crowd of future nobles and leaders would have no opportunity to take their rightful place serving their own nation. But here they were, getting a second chance of sorts. What bright young mind wouldn’t do everything in their power to make a good impression?

Daniel, along with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did everything they were asked, except where the king’s edicts crossed the line of God’s law. They took a stand that could have cost them their lives, but instead of being killed, they ended up being honored beyond anything they could have imagined. In fact, they wound up outlasting six Babylonian kings and lived to be released by the Medo-Persian Empire that followed.

I see a lot of parallels between Daniel and the modern age in which we find ourselves. There are so many temptations out there, and so many directions we can take our lives. What sounds good in the moment isn’t always best for us in the long run.

Now for the discussion: What do you stand up for in your life? What are the “choice foods” the world places before us today? Have you drawn a line in the sand somewhere and seen God’s deliverance?

There’s only one rule for the discussion: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!