I want to start out by sharing a story of some incredible young men, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. They grew up in a country that knew war and before they were 20 saw their people’s resistances crushed and, they along with a multitude of others were taken prisoners of war. They were lead into their enemies’ capital where they were expected to assimulate with the ways, cultures and means of the citizens, and were given new names to allow for a greater lever of likeness with their captors. At the same time they refused to bend when it came to their cultures and after some testing were allowed to follow their beliefs when it came to food and drink.

Everything was well enough for these individuals until the king decided to have a statue of himself built and for all his people to bow before it. This of course proved problematic for the boys and they refused to bow, even with the threat of death looming over them they would not bow. This enraged the king and he sentenced them to be burnt alive, but for the furance that they were to be tossed to be heated to a level that was so hot any who went near it were killed from the heat. And yet the boys would not bend, it was what happened when they were thrown in, they didn’t die. Instead, to the astonishment of the king and the crowd they wondered among the fire, unhurt, and with them was a fourth who was unlike anyone they had seen before.

Many know these men by their names given to them by their captors, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and their story, recorded in the book of Daniel (Daniel, being of course, another Judean who was suffered for his faith, thrown in a den of lions and lived to tell about it) should remind us of two things, first, of what a mighty God we serve and second that we must not surrender our beliefs.

Think about the world around us, even though many countries claim a religion very few truly believe. American Christians, living in a country built upon religious freedom are being forced underground, and whats more surpirsing is that by and large, they’re going quietly. This I find truely surprising that in a country that claims a majority of Christians find it detestable to pratice our beliefs if it interfers with someone else’s beliefs or if it has a chance of being ‘offensive’. Prayers and ‘moments of silence’ have been taken out of school, the 10 commandments have been taken out of court houses, and theres a huge debate about whether the phrase “in God we trust” or “one nation, under God…” are acceptable representations of us.

I want to challenge you now, my brothers and sisters. Its time to remember who we are and who we serve. We need to be proud to be called “children of God”. Christian is not a dirty word. So I dare you to stand up for your faith and put the consquences to the Lord.

What Others are Reading: