“If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything.”
We are all familiar with the book of Daniel in the Bible. We are most familiar with it because of the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den.
But the events leading up to that moment aren’t as well known. The life that Daniel lived was one of no compromise.
We’ve all made compromises before. Some that are ok and others that aren’t.
Maybe you compromised on going where your friends want to rather than standing your ground on what you wanted to do. We all make compromises that can help others, but there are other compromises that must not be made. Compromises that can lead to sin.
It’s been said before, “a compromise is an agreement where both parties get what neither of them want.”
Daniel could have easily given in to the temptation to worship another god and to eat whatever he wanted without any dietary restrictions but he chose a path that many aren’t so eager to follow.
The word “compromise” is defined as, “accepting standards that are lower than our expectation”.
It’s very easy in our culture to compromise on really anything…
Husbands and wives compromise on their marriage and sell out for lesser things to satisfy them.
We compromise on our intake of food by stuffing ourselves with things that aren’t so healthy.
Substitute that Snickers bar for a salad!
Maybe you’ve compromised on the time you had to finish a school project and you procrastinated yourself into cramming the night before or the morning of the project being due…
“Whatever you compromise to gain, you will lose.”
Maybe you compromised, thinking you had more time to finish that project than you thought…and you compromised time to fit in more time for video games, friends, etc. and you lost the momentum to finish the project.
If you’re willing to compromise your faith by worldliness, you will lose your influence for the gospel.
You can be in the world without becoming like the world
You can be in the world without becoming like the world. But the only way that can happen is if you are willing to trust the Lord even in the difficult.
In following Jesus, the moment we compromise in our relationship to God is when we actually see our relationship start to go downhill, and the momentum is lost and the time trying to recover and get back to where you were, takes twice as long.
Daniel and his buddies were so committed to God, that they weren’t even willing to change the food they ate. They kept their strict diet in order and it helped them out in the long run.
In Babylon, the people sacrificed to all kinds of idols. They sacrificed their own children to idols, and they sacrificed their crops to idols.
Daniel had purposed not to sin against God, so he chose to not eat of that food that came from the leftovers offered to idols.
- A New Home
- A New Knowledge
- A New Diet
- A New Name
The world does not like to recognize the name of God, yet each of the four boys had God’s name in his own name.
The Babylonians hoped that this new identity would help the youths forget their God and gradually become more like the heathen people with whom they were living and studying.
1 Corinthians 15:58
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
“It is better to die for a conviction that it is to live for a compromise.” – Vance Havner
