I'm reading in the book of Daniel right now and I'm beginning to really like him. As of this moment, I would probably put him on my list of top 10 characters of the Bible--which is probably weird to a lot of people because Daniel didn't really do anything all that awesome.
He didn't build a massive boat that saved the earth from flooding to death.
He didn't save all of Egypt from starvation after being sold into slavery.
He didn't kill a lion with his bare hands.
He didn't ascend to heaven in a chariot of fire.
He didn't kill anyone with a slingshot.
Most people know Daniel as the guy from the lion's den. I guess it's kind of awesome to be able to say you survived a night in a pit of lions, but as I'm reading, I'm realizing that there is so much more that is so much more awesome about him.
Daniel is a man that does not compromise. He is a man that is in constant pursuit of God's heart and is unwilling to let anything distract him from that. I mean, okay, it's one thing to stay faithful to God when you're surrounded by a bunch of people who believe the same things that you do, worship the same God, and don't think you're a psycho, but Daniel is different. Daniel is surrounded by the people of the Medo-Persian empire who not only don't worship his God, but also enforce the worship of other gods upon their subjects, punishable by death. Which would scare me so much, I won't even lie.
If Daniel's scared, though, he sure doesn't let on about it, because he just keeps kneeling down to pray in the same way he always has. There is this incredible silent strength about him that blows me away. I'm reading, and I just know that he must have had so many good thoughts and so many great things to say, but he always waited to speak out about God until he was spoken to. I imagine him as the quiet leader that everyone is watching, knowing that he's quiet now, but that when he speaks, it will go down. When he speaks, it DOES go down, and God takes Daniel out of so many (literally) deadly situations and elevates him to extraordinary levels until he becomes one of the most powerful people in the entire empire.
I guess this may actually be one of the things that stands out most powerfully to me: Daniel is a successful godly man in an ungodly place.
It's always so awesome to me when I read Daniel's story, or Joseph's story, and see these extremely godly men so monetarily and culturally successful in such "ungodly" places. I feel like, so often, as Christians, we seclude ourselves and decide that we are "in this world and not of it," creating a pseudo-world of our own that has little to do with God and results in the simultaneous creation of a lot of comfortable and underdeveloped followers of God.
"In this world but not of it." It's a good phrase, great words to live by, even, but not in the way that we've begun to use them.
It's like when we say we're "in this world but not of it" we gain this apathetic attitude toward being "in" this world and start behaving in a manner insomuch that "meh, I'm here for now, but I'm not REALLY here because I am not of this world and I don't belong here and I'm just waiting for God to come pluck me up and take me back to be with Him and until that day I'm going to be going to church and sitting in my house reading my Bible and petting my cat and that is all."
The thing is, though, that doesn't put us in THIS world, that drops us directly in a world centered around ourselves and leads to, quite honestly, a boring existence. If that's what being a Christian is all about, I'm not sure why anyone would want to be a Christian.
Which, to be honest, is what I've been struggling with lately.
I so desire an existence like Daniel's. I desire an adventure, but not just any adventure--I desire a heart pounding, dangerous, risk filled adventure with God. An adventure that leads me through the lion's den and over the mountains, and into the furnace and other places that Jesus isn't welcomed and out of church buildings and conferences and the comfort of my own home (though those are all great things).
Because I have been placed IN THIS WORLD to live OF GOD.
I have been placed in this world to live like Daniel. Loyal, passionate, trusting, strong, and true Daniel.
I have been placed in this world to live like Jesus. Perfect, strong, loving, compassionate, humble Jesus.
Even more than I want my life to mirror Daniel's, I want my life to reflect Jesus'. & Jesus descended right straight INTO this world to show people how to live OF Him.
When Jesus was in his ministry period, he didn't spend much time in church services, and he didn't spend much time with people who already knew him (except his best friends, you know, those disciple boys). He ventured out with no place to lay his head, constantly risking everything to show people the love of God.
When Daniel was--well, alive--he didn't spend ANY time in church services and he didn't spend much time with people who already knew God. He confidently ventured into the heart of the Medo-Persian empire knowing that his God would always come through.
He might not have the coolest story, but I want to be a Daniel. I want passion and trust in my God that He will always come through. Because the God of Daniel is the God of me, and He will.
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