Blogger's Note: Just a little late getting in this AM because I've had trouble getting internet access at my college where I've traveled with my wife for our 45th class reunion @ Wabash College. But now, having done my devotional earlier this AM, let me post my journal entry for this date.
Passage of the Day: Daniel 1: 3 – 4, 6 … 3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility – 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. … 6 Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
My Journal for Today: It doesn’t take a Rhodes Scholar to see that our passage today cuts across time. In today’s world we see movement by the power elite – i.e., those in control politically and culturally – to exercise their positions of worldly authority, beauty, or popularity, trying to reshape the culture to fit their image of worldly glory. Today’s world, like the Babylonians of old, would love to see Godly values (i.e., Christianity) get sucked in and decimated by the Hollywood hype and media mystique, … brain washing all of us, including Christians, to lay aside our Godly values. In fact “the world,” dominated and engineered by Satan, would like to eliminate every vestige of “God” from the public’s eyes/ears.
Therefore, it would be good for all who lay claim to Christian values to learn from the witness and lives of the four young Hebrews introduced in today’s passage. These lads became models of Godly integrity by standing strongly in their faith, … holding on to their values and Godly disciplines even at the risk of their very lives. And we will see more of this, hopefully causing us to take stock of our own Christian integrity this month. We will see if Christ in our lives prevails over such taunts from the world involving power, pleasure, and position, … even in the face of worldly pressures and power plays,.
So, will we stand as our four heroes of the faith; or will we wilt to the world? [see 1st John 2: 15 – 16]
My Prayer Today: I will always win, Lord, when I recognize and reflect You. Amen
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