Category Archives: Bible Study

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I am the Resurrection and the Life

The stage is set for a climactic revelation of Jesus’ glory through the resurrection of a dead man. The disciples are very much aware that a return trip to Judea could result in Jesus’ persecution and death by stoning. Jesus persists in His determination to return to Bethany in Judea because “Lazarus has died.” Jesus hints at some great sign He will perform “that you may believe.” Thomas has his doubts as he girds up to go and die with Lazarus (and Jesus).

The miraculous raising of Lazarus from being dead three days becomes not only a demonstration of Jesus’ divinity but also of His humanity. “Jesus wept” (11:35), is both the shortest verse in the Bible and perhaps the most profoundly compassionate. When He sees Martha and Mary, and Lazarus’ friends and family all weeping, Jesus is described as being “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” Not only is Jesus acquainted with human sorrows and grief, He shares in them.

Jesus also is the one who can reverse human suffering and sorrow. One day, He promises to wipe away every tear from our eyes. In a display of the “glory of God” (11:40), Jesus calls a three-day-dead Lazarus to “come out!” (11:43)

Here, Jesus utters the fifth of His seven great “I am” statements.

Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (11:25-26)

Jesus is God in the flesh; He is the great “I am.” Jesus wept.

He holds the power of life and death in His sovereign hands. He is the bread of life, the only one who deeply satisfies our hungers. He is the light of life who disperses falsehood and darkness. He is the source of living water who heals our hurts and quenches our deepest thirsts. He is the only gate which leads to eternal life. For, He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep.

Do you believe this?

Martha’s response was, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

What is your response? Do you believe this? Today in prayer, offer your “Yes Lord; I believe” to the Lord and Savior of the World.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, where else would we go? You have the words of eternal life. Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.

This post originally appeared on The Bible Challenge here.
Featured image: The Raising of Lazarus by Jean Jouvenet via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jean-Baptiste_Jouvenet_-_The_Raising_of_Lazarus_-_WGA12033.jpg

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The Sheep Hear His Voice

I am the Good Shepherd

Sadly, no matter what God does or says, there are certain people whose hearts are so hard to Him that they will never turn and believe. The root source of such hardness of heart can come from many places: prideful arrogance, greed, lust for vain pursuits.

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” – John 10:24

The question and statement at face value sounds like a genuine desire to know Jesus. But as we read deeper into the text we find out He already has told them plainly, and yet they did not believe. By the time we reach the end of John chapter 10, the same questioners are picking up stones to stone Him for blasphemy.

In the opening chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus is identified as the Creator, the True Light that enlightens all people, the Word made flesh dwelling among us. And yet there is also this concerning line, “He came to that which was his own but his own did not receive him.” As we arrive at chapter 10 in the Gospel, we reach a point of climax with some of the Jews and Jesus. Never has there been a more clear confrontation of the deep rejection by unbelief that Jesus received from “his own.”

Yet in spite of those who do not believe, there are also sheep who hear His voice. They recognize the Good Shepherd. They know that the Good Shepherd would lead them through the valley of the shadow of death to still waters that revive the soul.

The difference between those who reject Jesus and those who hear His voice really truly comes down to matters of the heart. For the hardhearted, no amount of logical reasoning or displays of the power of God will convince them to give their lives to Jesus. But those who are the sheep of the Good Shepherd need only to hear His voice, and they respond by faith. Soften your heart and open your ears to the sound of the Shepherd’s voice.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. – John 10:27-28

Prayer: Heavenly Father, you have promised that those who hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow Him will never perish but receive eternal life. Speak to my heart, guide me, open my life to receive the abundant life that you promise to those who follow the voice of the Shepherd. In the name of your Son our Lord, Jesus Christ, Amen.

This post originally appeared on The Bible Challenge here.
Feature image: The Good Shepherd 103 Bernard Plockhorst via https://www.flickr.com/photos/waitingfortheword/5691907434

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Let Brotherly Love Continue

A few things to remember these days...

Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Hebrews 13:1-3

Abide in Brotherly Love

Continuous mutual love (brotherly love, Gk. phil-adelphia) anchors the heart in the life of Christ. He sacrificed for us as his brothers and sisters (Hebrews 2:11-12) therefore our continual sacrifice is to offer our lives and love to one another as the family of God. Our mutual love is an aspect of the “unshakable kingdom” which we are inheriting. As Paul reminded in 1 Corinthians 13, love is one of the three things that will “remain” after all else comes to an end. At the last hour, the only thing that will matter is our abiding relationship with God and one another. All else is secondary. Our love for one another is eternal; it continues forever; it never ends.

Do not forget to love the Stranger

There is a tension between the life of holiness and the life of love. They are not mutually exclusive; in fact, they are two sides of the same coin.  To “be holy” means to “be set apart”. Does that mean that hospitality to outsiders goes out the window? Are the boundaries to be set so strongly that the Christian should not even associate with strangers or non-believers? Xenophobia is the fear of the stranger. Often an “inside group” can be very concerned about an “outside” group or person. Their cultures and customs are often strange and perceived as a threat to identity and purity.

Quite the contrary, once we are secure in our own relationship to God through Jesus Christ, our identity in him and our manner of life, we can freely relate to the stranger with love (love for the stranger, Gk. philo-xenia). The call is to love and welcome the stranger with a posture of hospitality and grace. Inside the community of the church, the people of God are called to be holy in their relationships. However, we are to maintain a loving holiness that extends out beyond itself. In Jesus Christ, xenophobia is transfigured into philoxenia.

When we are focused on our own familiar relationships, it can be very easy to forget to look around and show care to the new person or the unknown visitor in our midst. As a pastor, I find it heartbreaking to hear from new members to the church how they visited other churches (or even ours sometimes) and no one said a word to them. They walked in and they walked out without so much as a greeting or any attempt to welcome. How do we perceive the stranger in the midst of our assemblies? What does it feel like to be the lone outsider with a group of insiders–can you relate?

The call to show hospitality runs deep in the story of Israel. Abraham is blessed by welcoming three strangers who turned out to be messengers of good news who spoke prophetically as the angels of the Lord.

The strangers and visitors in our midst may very well have been sent by God to bring some missing spiritual gift or to provide for a need where there is lacking. At one time, Jesus came as a stranger to this world, and those “who received him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Do Christians have a unique role to play with respect to immigrants and foreigners in our country?

Remember the Prisoner and the Mistreated

If we are to not forget to show love to the stranger in our midst, we are to always remember to show love to Christian brothers and sisters out of our presence trapped in prison. In the days of the early church, one could become imprisoned for simply being a believer in Jesus Christ. Just as we see in parts of the middle east today. Christians were persecuted and mistreated for their insistence on singular personal allegiance to Jesus Christ. Many today are trapped in the persecuting prison of their own country, and they would seek refuge if they could.

The preacher exhorts that even though our Christian brothers and sisters are away from us, they are still connected to us as united parts of the body of Christ and the household of God. We must always remember them, pray for them, and if possible, help them.

In 2013 the US Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that there 2,220,300 people in state and federal prisons, and county jails.

Christian Prisoners

Chapel Service in the LA County Jail

While it difficult to be exact, researchers estimate that there are between 50-60% of this population that identifies itself as Christian (either protestant or catholic). Jesus joined us in solidarity to our prison to Satan, sin and death:

Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

Our character of solidarity with brothers and sisters in Christ who are imprisoned or mistreated by persecution reflects the unity we share in Jesus Christ. He came to us when we were in prison. Jesus is the great liberator. When they are imprisoned, we are with them. When they are mistreated, so are we. We are one.

What is your experience of visiting the prisoner? How can the church more effectively care for our brothers and sisters in Christ behind bars? How can we better relate to Christian refugees and those who are persecuted for the Christian faith in other parts of the world?

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Epiphany: The Big Reveal

Things into which angels long to look

William Phelps taught English literature at Yale for forty-one years until his retirement in 1933.

William Lyon Phelps.
William Vandivert—Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

Marking an examination paper shortly before Christmas one year, Phelps came across the note: “God only knows the answer to this question. Merry Christmas.” Phelps returned the paper with this note: “God gets an A. You get an F. Happy New Year.”

In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus, he marvels in what he describes as the “mystery of God’s will”. A mystery is something that “God only knows”.

We all love a good mystery. Mysteries have tremendous power; the unknowns keep us engaged and drive us to seek a resolution to the mystery. As in any good mystery, with the big reveal, we learn who did it and how.

The story of salvation is in many ways an unfolding mystery. There are certain things that we know and have clues about from God’s revelations to Abraham, Moses, David and the Prophets of the Old Testament. God gave a lot of clues.

The Apostle Peter tells us that we now know things even the prophets and angels of God longed to see:

It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look (1 Peter 1:12).

The people of old knew that God had a plan to save the world. They knew that central to the plan was the nation of Israel, and specifically a Messianic king who would be in the line of King David.

But, as Paul writes, there were certain things about the story of salvation that remained hidden in the councils of God until the big moment of revelation. The big reveal is called the Epiphany!

First: who? Who will be the Messiah? We now know that Jesus Christ, the incarnate son of God, is the one who will save the world. No one would have expected that a carpenter’s son from Nazareth would amount to much. Yet everything now points to him and his birth, ministry, death and resurrection.

The big reveal is that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one comes to the Father except by him ( John 14:6).

How will God save the world? We now know from the big reveal that through the proclamation of the Gospel message about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, God will convert the hearts of the people of this world. He will liberate them from the powers of death and darkness, save their souls, and grant them eternal life.

As with any epiphany we can be surprised and shocked at the way things turn out. Who could fathom the sheer magnitude of the salvation of God as he converts the people of the world to Jesus? The Lord continues to surprise and amaze!

You and I have the tremendous privilege of knowing the big reveal to life’s most intriguing mystery. God has shown us how he will save this sinful and fallen world, and who has accomplished it. This is a revelation that is too important to keep hidden and secret. Our privilege, duty and calling is to make known the mystery of the will of God to a world that desperately needs to see the light of the Gospel.

Let your light shine!

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Guarding the Faith

“O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called ‘knowledge,’ for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.” – 1 Timothy 6:20-21

Paul’s final charge to Timothy is to “guard the deposit entrusted to you” (6:20). As a minister of the Gospel, Timothy is being sent into a battle on the front lines for the very Gospel itself. He needs strong encouragement to see the importance of the task and ministry with which he has been entrusted.

The need for Paul’s letter was occasioned for two main reasons: geography and time. First, Paul was simply not able to be in more than one place at a time. The delegation of leadership to others was an essential task for Paul if there was to be a geographically broad gospel movement. As Paul traveled on his missionary journeys moving from region to region, city to city, town to town, many new congregations were planted. New leadership had to be developed in each region, city, and town. Coordination and support of those various congregations also became mission-critical for the gospel.

The second issue was related to time. Paul was always keenly aware that his days of “fruitful ministry” were numbered. The issue of succession was critically important to Paul as he empowered Timothy to lead and then to identify and empower more leaders for the churches.

In this way, we see the first examples of succession and delegation at work in the church in the personal and pastoral relationship between Timothy and Paul. For Paul, the issue is not merely the passing of a torch humanly speaking, but for him it was critically important that the content and character of the gospel be guarded in order that it may be passed on faithfully to the next generation of leaders.

As each generation considers its own faith, it must also keep in mind the needs of the next generation of believers. We are given a sacred trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ, guarding the faith carefully so that it can be passed on.

In what ways are you delegating, passing on, and guarding the faith which has been entrusted to you?

This post originally appeared on The Bible Challenge here.

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We Will Not Neglect the House of Our God

Prophet_nehemiahIn the Old Testament, the testimony of the people was to keep covenant and maintain the Temple through faithful worship, offerings, and tithes. They had promised, “We will not neglect the House of our God” (Nehemiah 10:39). In chapter 13, Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem and finds that they have indeed broken their commitment. They were neglecting the house of their God in their stewardship of four critical areas: space, resources, time, and relationships. We often do the same.

The first neglect was caused when Eliashab, the priest in charge of the temple chambers, allowed a foreigner to dwell in a room which had a specific purpose for offerings to the Lord. Nehemiah kicked him out and restored the chamber for its godly purpose (13:4-9). In our own lives, are there inappropriate things cluttering up key spaces that should be properly devoted to godly use?

A second neglect was caused by a failure to bring the appointed offerings to the Levites, thus forcing them to abandon the service of worship in order to provide for their families (13:10-14). Jesus said, “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34). Our patterns of giving can reveal a neglect of our relationship with God. Practically, when the people of God withhold their tithes and offerings, the worship of our God and the ministry of His Church falls into neglect.

A third neglect was caused by buying and selling on the Sabbath (13:15-22). If our time is focused on doing personal work on the Sabbath, then we will not be focused on praising God and His work that day. The Lord calls us to devote one day out of the week to worship and work for Him.

Finally, the marriages of Israelites to foreigners were leading the hearts of the people into idolatry and away from God. Paul warned the church about being unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14). The friendships, partnerships, and marriages we make can draw us away from the love of God, thus causing neglect of our primary relationship with God.

Nehemiah led the people to repentance in all four neglects of space, money, time, and relationships. Is there one or more of these areas in your stewardship that requires reform?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, show me any area in my life where I have neglected your house. I repent of my neglect of you with my stewardship of space, money, time, and personal relationships. Please forgive my neglect and restore me to your goodness. Amen.

This post originally appeared on The Bible Challenge here.

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Prayer In the Midst of the Insurmountable

By studying the prayers of Scripture, we can learn a lot about how to pray effective prayers. Constantly throughout the Bible, we see prayers like the one Hezekiah offers to the LORD. “So now, O LORD save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone.” – 2 Kings 19:8

Things are looking bleak for Judea and Jerusalem. The hordes of the Assyrian army are mocking YHWH God and His people, threatening at the gates. Yet Hezekiah does not resort to bravado; no, he encourages his men NOT to answer the Assyrian mockers (2 Kings 18:36).

He does resort to prayer. THAT he prays in this situation is instructive in and of itself. The forces outside the gate of Jerusalem appeared to be insurmountable in sheer numbers. Why even hope? Why even pray? There is not a chance. But that is precisely the moment to pray!

The LORD loves to show His hand on behalf of His people in seemingly insurmountable situations. Hezekiah knows the LORD well enough to understand that if He so chooses, He can overcome such odds and forces. But notice the way Hezekiah makes his appeal to the LORD to act. His humble request for salvation comes with a purpose or motivation for the LORD– “…that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone.”

When the LORD acts on behalf of His faithful people by overcoming insurmountable odds in spite of their weakness, His strength is revealed, His name is glorified.

The LORD desires to be worshiped and obeyed to the ends of the earth. Human beings are made to do that very thing. In your prayers, appeal to the LORD’s preeminence over all other powers and forces. God loves an opportunity to reveal His power and glory through the weakness of His faithful people. When we are at our weakest, God delights to show Himself strong. Pray to that end.

LORD, I am not able to save myself, but you alone have the strength and power to forgive, to heal, to restore. Please show your strength in my life that others may see that you alone are God and that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.

This post originally appeared on The Bible Challenge here.

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Do not doubt, but believe!

Life in Christ is Never Dull!

He is Risen

Life in Christ is Never Dull!

Jesus compared the generation of Pharisees and scribes to a then-popular children’s song:

‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
    we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ –Luke 7:32

The song invites the hearer into response, but no response is given. That generation was skeptical of the invitations of God offered through John the Baptist and Jesus. Hence, they did not dance, and they did not weep. The Gospel writer Luke says that they had “rejected the purpose of God for themselves” (7:30).

John the Baptist called them to a baptism of repentance, but they refused to be baptized by him. The prophet sang the dirge, but they did not weep.

Jesus proclaimed the Good News of forgiveness and restoration for the sinner and the brokenhearted. He celebrated and ate with them, but they refused to come to the party table. The Lord played the flute, but they did not dance.

Today, we celebrate–the Lord’s day of resurrection.  Where is your heart on this day? Is it filled with joy? Or have the flaming arrows of the evil one pierced your heart and stolen your joy? Jesus would challenge the skeptical and critical spirits in us. Oh you of little faith! Beware of the negative spirit. It is possible to be so cynical of being taken in that you refuse to enter in to the abundant life that God has for you. Such attitudes rob joy from the people around you.

Do you know that an angry and critical spirit is a mask for unresponsiveness to God’s call?  Remember, that in refusing to be baptized, the Pharisees “rejected the purposes of God for themselves” (Luke 7:30). Are you humbly responsive to the purposes of God on your life? Are you open and responsive to enter into the joy and free gift of the resurrected life?

In the last book of C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia series, there is a group of hard-hearted dwarfs who are pictured in a building surrounded by a glorious banquet prepared for them by Aslan, the Jesus figure in the series. Only, the dwarfs cannot perceive that the food and the table that is set before them as a life-giving, joyous blessing. Their cynicism and skepticism clouds their view of life. Instead of a banquet hall, they perceive that they are in a stable eating hay and drinking out of a water trough.

Everyone around them can clearly see that they are self deceived. The children in the story are dismayed at their disbelief. With the heart of an evangelist one of the children asks, “Are you blind?”

Dwarfs from Narnia

“Their prison is only in their minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out” (CS Lewis, The Last Battle).

“No,” respond the dwarfs, “we’re here in the dark where no one can see.”

“But it isn’t dark, you poor dwarfs,” says Lucy, “look up, look round, can’t you see the sky and flowers – can’t you see me?” Then Lucy bends over, picks some wild violets, and says, “perhaps you can smell these.” But the dwarf jumps back into his darkness and yells, “How dare you shove that filthy stable litter in my face.” He cannot even smell the beauty which surrounds him.

Aslan teaches the children, that with some hard-hearted souls, there is no way of helping them: “Their prison is only in their minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out.” (CS Lewis, The Last Battle)

It is easy to stand on the sidelines and be a critic of faith and belief in the midst a sinful and fallen world. Faith requires us to open our eyes to reality of God’s kingdom and call. I have noticed that malcontents often find each other and flock together like angry birds. “The dwarfs are for the dwarfs,” they reassure themselves! Yet the group-think only serves to further limit their vision and sharpen their rejection of the life which God is offering them. We all know people like this–perhaps you see yourself in the dwarf tribe!

The Lord invites you out of self-imposed darkness into the light of life–the light of Christ, thanks be to God. He has prepared a table before you.

You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever. (Psalm 23:5-6)

Today celebrate and proclaim the breaking forth of the new life to which the Lord invites you. In his resurrection, he has prepared for you a glorious table of life with anointing oil and overflowing cups of abundance. God’s kingdom is one where goodness and mercy pursue you all of your days.

Do not doubt, but believe!

The first witnesses of the empty tomb were several women. They told the disciples and the rest the Good News of new life bursting from the tomb!

Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them (Luke 24:10).

The women were filled with wonder, joy, faith and belief. But, it was met by the dwarfish skepticism of those who dismissed their words as an idle tale. 

I ask you, where are you seeing death among things that are alive, and seeking life among things that are dead? The Lord would have you enter into the divine drama as a fully engaged participant. Give your entire heart, life and faith to Him. Surrender to the Lord in prayer right now. Plead with him, “Lord I want to receive your life, where ever you lead me!” The responsive Christian life in Jesus is never dull!

The kingdom of God calls you to enter into all the ups and downs of faith, hope and love. At times, the Lord sings the dirge that you might plumb the depths of repentance and weep over your sin and brokenness–this is the season of the Cross. At other times, He plays the flute with a joyous invitation to dance with the rhythmic freedoms of His grace and redemption–the glory of the Resurrection! Today the joyous flute is loudly playing for you.  Alleluia, Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia! Will you dance with Jesus in faith?

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God Will Change Your Name

God will change your name, just like he did for the wives of Hosea.

The call of Hosea was to experience the broken heart of God personally. His call was to take a wife, Gomer, who would become unfaithful in marriage. And yet, Hosea was to remain bound to her in covenant faithfulness as a sign of God covenant love for His people.

It would seem that the first child she bore was likely in faithfulness. His name was to be called Jezreel as a sign of the judgment on King Jehu for taking his role as an instrument of judgment too far. The second two children were children born in unfaithfulness, Lo- ruhama (No Mercy) and Lo-Ammi (Not My People).

The children’s names conveyed YHWH’s concern for Israel’s spiritual adultery. The people had broken covenant faithfulness with YHWH and worshiped and served foreign gods and lords in Baal. They had placed their hope in foreign alliances and kings. Because of their spiritual and worldly adultery, they had given birth to judgment (no mercy) and divorce (not my people).

However, in spite of the people’s unfaithfulness and the coming judgment for their sin, YHWH will remain faithful to His covenant promises to them. He promises to restore and reunite His people (Hosea 1:10-11). God will redeem His marriage: “And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal’ (My Master)” (2:16). God changed their names and their status in Him.

The apostles and prophets of the New Testament will reflect on these verses in two ways. First, Jesus is the faithful Messianic Husband to the unfaithful Samaritan woman (See John 2:1-12; 3:29; 4:1-45). The descendants of Judah may have written off Samaria (the former capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel), but God had remembered His covenant with Israel and the promise of restoration through Hosea.

Also, Paul and Peter surprisingly apply the “not my people/my people” reversal to the inclusion of the Gentiles with the people of Israel in salvation under the one Messiah Jesus (See Romans 9:25-26; 11:25-32; 1 Peter 2:10).

The Apostle Peter says to the combined Jewish-Gentile church in Asia Minor:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people,, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” –1 Peter 2:9-10

To this day, God has remained steadfast in keeping His promises to restore and forgive. God will your name.

Lord, your love reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness stretches to the sky. Thank you for calling me, even when I was not calling to you. Thank you for changing my name.

This post originally appeared on The Bible Challenge.

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Taking a Stand

There are times in life where we have to make tough choices between faithfulness to God and faithfulness to other powers and authorities. The more corrupt the society and environment around us become, the greater the likelihood that we will face such a choice as Daniel was faced with in Daniel chapter 6. Like Daniel, we live in a fallen world where the adversaries of the people of God are active and intentional in their desire to entrap and ensnare. One of the biggest traps is that of competing loyalties. Taking a stand for the right choice in the right moment requires clarity of self.

Would Daniel as a faithful adviser to the King AND a worshiping, God-fearing man choose to forsake faithfulness to one in order to obey the other? Obey the king, and you must renounce prayer to the Lord; obey the Lord’s call to prayer, and you disobey the edict of the king. Daniel was a person of deep integrity; his adversaries “could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent” (Daniel 6:5). So they purposed to create a conflict between loyalties between king and God. They passed a “decree that anyone who prays to any god or human being during the next thirty days, except to [the King] shall be thrown into the lions’ den” (Daniel 6:7).

Daniel’s principles governed his decisions, the Lord’s command always trumps the edicts of human governance. He would continue to pray three times a day to the Lord despite the threat of certain punishment to the lion’s den. Jesus faced a similar “catch 22” as He stood before Pilate and was asked if He was a King. To answer “yes” would mean a certain death sentence for opposition to Caesar; to say “no” would be a denial of His true calling. Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world.” He entrusted Himself to the heavenly Father.

To make such a stand in service of a Kingdom that is not of this world—to an unseen God—often seems ludicrous and foolish to a proud world. But, such self-sacrifice and humiliation in the service of God’s kingdom may serve to further His Divine plan in some unknown way. This has been the history of redemption through the ages. God uses the folly of self-sacrifice to redeem and transform the world. We may never know who will be inspired by our stand for what is right, but we should know that we are always being watched by those around us. We should never underestimate the power of the leader who is upright and walks with integrity to inspire others to the same. Daniel’s willingness to be martyred for his faith and subsequent vindication at the hand of God impressed the king himself. He decreed and proclaimed that Daniel’s God is the Living God whose Kingdom will not be destroyed, and whose dominion will never end! (Daniel 6:26)

In Christian terms, this is called our witness. Are we willing to make our witness to truth and righteousness, and most importantly are we willing to make our witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? The witness of any one follower of God is costly in ways that no other person will ever fully be able to understand—financially, relationally, physically, and spiritually. And no one can dictate for another the manner of another’s sacrifice. The disciple is free to lay down his life of his own volition. A life laid down for Jesus will never be in vain.

Featured image: “Daniellion” by After Briton Rivière – Manchester City Art Gallery [sic!]. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daniellion.jpg#/media/File:Daniellion.jpg