June 13, 2011 … Integrity Resists Intimidation

Passage of the Day: Daniel 3: 4 – 7 … 4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed, "This is what you are commanded to do, O peoples, nations and men of every language: 5 As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace." 7 Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

My Journal for Today: It is of interest and pertinence to note that our post-modern culture holds many similarities with those of Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar. People today, especially believing/witnessing Christians, are pressured by the powers that be, by the media, and by many in the world to set aside their faith or references to God, especially “Christ,” and to bow down to the idols of the age: intellectualism, humanism, materialism, sensualism, and political conformity to the liberalism of the so-called god of “tolerance.” And the penalty of non-conformity, as it was in Babylon, can be enormous.

John MacArthur in his Strength for Today devotional for this date clearly states, “The choices you make reveal the convictions you embrace.” Today is the anniversary of my marriage to my dear wife [over 45 of them]. For the first 12 years of our marriage, I made dangerous, selfish, and adulterous choices that could have destroyed our family in the caldron of my own sensuality and lust. However, God’s grace and the integrity of my wife’s forgiveness, strength, and patience allowed God to do a work in my heart where He transformed me to follow after the integrity of faith modeled by paragons of the faith like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (of whom we will soon read in subsequent devotionals this month).

Therefore, may I … no, may we all … follow the example of these three young men of faith and be willing to stand on faith with and against the fires of temptation burning in sight … and to believe and receive the promises of God expressed in His word. It takes courage and strong faith, i.e., Spirit-led integrity, to stand for Jesus in today’s post-modern world; and I pray that we all have the Christian integrity exhibited by the three Hebrew lads as we will read in our study in subsequent days.

My Prayer Today: Thank you, Lord, for restoring the life of our marriage; … help me to hold on to the integrity You have instilled in my soul to resist satanic and worldly values, i.e., the idols of our day. Amen