Time: 605 BC
Place: King's Court
Scripture: Daniel 1:8
Daniel 1:8 - Daniel 'resolved' that he would 'not defile himself' with the King's food or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him 'not to defile himself.'
Daniel 'resolved' he would 'not defile himself.'
Look at the 2 sets of words:
"Defile" carries the meaning of polluting or staining.
Daniel is not going to let the 'world' defile him. Why would Daniel consider the King's food defiled? We are not told exactly why Daniel considered the King's food defiling. It could be that these food were used for the worship of heathen gods and Daniel would not take part eating them. The Bible text here does not give any explanations. One thing is obvious: Daniel rejects the king's food for a spiritual reason. He was alert spiritually and knows one thing: The world can 'defile' him.
Do you realize that the things of the world can 'defile you", even the good things of the world?
The food and the three years of education are the good things of the world. All these are calling the young men to leave behind their Yahweh God and Hebrew culture, and "not to look to God" but to "look to the King" for everything. The world is forever beckoning us to love the so call good things in life. When the love of the world takes over our heart, there is no more love for God anymore. Is this your situation?
Today Satan uses the same strategy to 'defile us'. Satan uses the good things of the world, the legitimate things of the world to soften our spiritual values to embrace the world system. As the years go on, do you realize that you have slowly adopted the world system in your life? We want to please the world. We want to please our friends. We want to be accepted by our peers. We follow the ways of the world. We have accepted the world's standard of morality. We become 'men pleasers'. We are overwhelmed with our desires. We have become defiled without knowing it. We want to 'please ourselves'. We don't want to ask: "Am I pleasing God?"
Daniel is actively pleasing God by avoiding defilement.
"Getting Defiled" is a slow process of feeding on what the world offers. Slowly the system of the world 'defile' your inner man totally unaware. And one day, you find you don't love God anymore and you find yourself making wrong decisions one after another. You have become totally defiled unaware and functioning in the ways of the world. This is the spiritual tragedy in many churches. The world system had taken over the church. This is what I fear the most in building up our church.
Let us not allow the voices from the world to drown out the word of God.
Let us not succumb ourselves to adopt the world system to defile God's Church .
As Daniel had loved God in Jerusalem, he was determined to love God in Babylon. He had made up his mind long ago to live a life of 'not defiling himself.' He has this spiritual insight to see through the cunning system of the world that can slowly work its way to 'defile' him.
:)
Place: King's Court
Scripture: Daniel 1:8
Daniel 1:8 - Daniel 'resolved' that he would 'not defile himself' with the King's food or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him 'not to defile himself.'
Daniel 'resolved' he would 'not defile himself.'
Look at the 2 sets of words:
- resolved
- not defile himself
"Resolve" comes from the Hebrew word that means 'to pull together, to place or direct with purpose'. It means that in Daniel's mind, he "already has made a mental determination with purpose" of how he is going to make his decisions in life.
He has long ago "made up in his mind an overall purpose in his life for God." Do you have an overall purpose in life? Without an overarching purpose in our life, you will end up making wrong choices in your decisions. Without a concrete direction, you will end up being 'wishy washy' and weak in all your decisions making.
"Daniel Resolves . . . " - What is Daniel's purpose of life?
He has long ago "made up in his mind an overall purpose in his life for God." Do you have an overall purpose in life? Without an overarching purpose in our life, you will end up making wrong choices in your decisions. Without a concrete direction, you will end up being 'wishy washy' and weak in all your decisions making.
"Daniel Resolves . . . " - What is Daniel's purpose of life?
Daniel's purpose is 'not to defile himself' - repeated twice in Daniel 1:8.
This is the overarching spiritual principle in Daniel's life as he makes decisions.
"Defile" carries the meaning of polluting or staining.
Daniel is not going to let the 'world' defile him. Why would Daniel consider the King's food defiled? We are not told exactly why Daniel considered the King's food defiling. It could be that these food were used for the worship of heathen gods and Daniel would not take part eating them. The Bible text here does not give any explanations. One thing is obvious: Daniel rejects the king's food for a spiritual reason. He was alert spiritually and knows one thing: The world can 'defile' him.
Do you realize that the things of the world can 'defile you", even the good things of the world?
The food and the three years of education are the good things of the world. All these are calling the young men to leave behind their Yahweh God and Hebrew culture, and "not to look to God" but to "look to the King" for everything. The world is forever beckoning us to love the so call good things in life. When the love of the world takes over our heart, there is no more love for God anymore. Is this your situation?
Today Satan uses the same strategy to 'defile us'. Satan uses the good things of the world, the legitimate things of the world to soften our spiritual values to embrace the world system. As the years go on, do you realize that you have slowly adopted the world system in your life? We want to please the world. We want to please our friends. We want to be accepted by our peers. We follow the ways of the world. We have accepted the world's standard of morality. We become 'men pleasers'. We are overwhelmed with our desires. We have become defiled without knowing it. We want to 'please ourselves'. We don't want to ask: "Am I pleasing God?"
Daniel is actively pleasing God by avoiding defilement.
"Getting Defiled" is a slow process of feeding on what the world offers. Slowly the system of the world 'defile' your inner man totally unaware. And one day, you find you don't love God anymore and you find yourself making wrong decisions one after another. You have become totally defiled unaware and functioning in the ways of the world. This is the spiritual tragedy in many churches. The world system had taken over the church. This is what I fear the most in building up our church.
Let us not allow the voices from the world to drown out the word of God.
Let us not succumb ourselves to adopt the world system to defile God's Church .
As Daniel had loved God in Jerusalem, he was determined to love God in Babylon. He had made up his mind long ago to live a life of 'not defiling himself.' He has this spiritual insight to see through the cunning system of the world that can slowly work its way to 'defile' him.
:)
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