Commitment

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” [Daniel 3.16-18]

Are there circumstances today where we have the opportunity to make such claims?

I think so. I think faith always puts us at odds with the world.

If we would only think for a moment about this world we live in, and what threatens our lives in it, we would realize many of the opportunities to trust God to His glory.

So, what threatens our lives today? Cancer is the first thing that comes to mind. But there are also numerous political situations across the world that threaten people's lives. Certainly, there are also religious situations that threaten people's lives (terrorists abound).

What are we to do with these threatening situations? Are we to live in fear of them? Fearing anything only gives it power. So, no, we are not to fear these circumstances (any circumstance that threatens and invokes fear). What we ARE to do however, is remain faithful - live and walk by faith - and, if necessary, die by faith.

the three Hebrews of the scripture above did just that. Their resolve was fixed. They would not bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's statue - come what may. They certainly believed God could save them, but, their relationship to Him was so committed that, even if He did not deliver them, they would not bow!

In my own mind and life right now, it just seems to me that modern medicine has set itself up as a statue to be worshiped. Perhaps the US government has set itself up as a statue to be worshiped. Will we bow down? Or, will we refuse - even if it means we die?

I am compelled by the Word of God and, particularly this story today, to trust God with well-defined parameters. There should be no doubt what I am believing in. If non-compliance threatens to kill me, then so be it. If God be for me, who or what can be against me? Am I trusting in God or in man? Is my faith in God worth risking the gray areas of "a little God - a little man" (because God uses man, you know [written in sarcasm])?  Or, like the three Hebrews, am I called to live and demonstrate "black or white?"

Father, help me to live with conviction and commitment.