Serving a Holy God
For my quiet time today I was going through the book of Daniel and reading about the life of Daniel and his three friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. (Their Babylonian names were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.) I am so surprised at the guts and determination these guys had that sometimes flew in the face of culture, kings, and royal decrees. Even when face to face with the king of the most powerful nation on the earth, they did not back down from their convictions and refused to bow down before an idol and violate commandments 1 and 2 of the law God gave us.
Exodus 20:1-6
1 And God spoke all these words:
2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 You shall have no other gods before me.
4 You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.
We trust in the Word of God, but sometimes our convictions fall short and we compromise in small (and sometimes large) ways. If our faith was a matter of life or death, I think that we would have fewer Christians, but more committed ones. For some countries this is true like Muslim nations or China for example. Here Christians are persecuted, but our numbers are still growing.
And back to my point. These men’s convictions were so strong that they defied the most powerful ruler of the time and risked death because of what they knew to be true. Do you believe what you know this much? Would you risk being thrown into a furnace to stand by what you believe? You could come up with a bunch of excuses I think but to stick to your convictions would be very difficult.
But these men remembered the truth that they were created by God to worship God and they were not compromising that belief to serve man or image. They understood their standing in God’s eyes and knew pleasing and honoring Him was the most important thing. When they were thrown into the furnace they were met by a heavenly being. It could have been an angel or the pre-incarnate Christ, but God showed up and they didn’t die.
And this leads me to my final point. We are created by God to have a loving relationship with him and bring him praise. I was reading in Revelation 4 about the 24 elders who bow down before the throne of God and worship him. They say in verse 11, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
Guys we have an eternal inheritance because of the price that Christ paid on the cross for us. With this being said, lets approach the throne of God with boldness. We are God’s children.
