The 3 C's of Godly Conviction....

There's a old saying that goes, "If you are not sure what you STAND FOR, then there's a good chance you will FALL FOR ANYTHING!" That is a statement that would have definitely been true for one of the great characters in the Bible...the prophet Daniel, if he had not been in possession of the three "C's" of Godly conviction.

Daniel 1:8 reads, "Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king's food or with the wine he drank. So he asked permission from the chief official not to defile himself."

You see, Daniel was a young man in possession of the 3 "C's" ...Courage, Character and Commitment. He stood his ground before the King of Babylon because he stood firm in the Word of God that had be taught to him all his life. He had been instructed on what he could and could not eat as a Jewish man and his conviction was solid...and so was his character.

He could have beat his chest and told his captors that he would not be defiled and that there was not anything they could do to him to make him change his mind; rather he asked permission of the chief official and gave him an alternative plan that allowed him to stand on his conviction to honor his God and at the same time, give God a chance to show His great power.

His courage could have been further tested, but God honored this young captive and set in motion the plan to have Daniel find favor with the officials and allow him to rise to great prominence at a later time in the Babylonian kingdom that he now called home.

Time and time again, when one looks at the life of Daniel, we see him display his courage through his character...He was ALWAYS seeking to do God's will and to obey God's laws, even though the expedient measure would have been to do what he was ordered to do and stay on the good side of his captors...but that was not the man we know as Daniel. Daniel was a man of great commitment as he spend the majority of his life as a captive in a far-away land; always seeking to know what God's will was for him and then having the courage of his convictions to stand for Jehovah God...and in that stand, GOD NEVER LET HIM DOWN!!!!

Which brings me to the question for you and me...do we possess the three 'C's" when it comes to taking a stand for our God in today's sinful and perverse society...where we are asked to compromise our values and beliefs for the expediency of tolerance or "political correctness"?

Heaven forbid this to be true!!!! May we as believers in the Almighty God of Heaven and Earth stand firm in our faith, courageous in our willingness to call out evil for what it is and committed to be the ones that stand up for truth and justice before our God.

It takes Courage....Character...and Commitment to be one of God's elect...what do you stand for today?

Standing firm in the Faith...Committed to His Will,

WPQ