Religious sentiment seems to be moving from the un-Christian to the anti-Christian. Hostility is gaining steam.  Ridicule is in the air.  Shame is hurled our way.  Not fun, is it? The times, they are a’changin’!

When we were selling our house,  I was having my usual daily devotions, spending time with the Lord, in prayer and reading God’s Word.  I propped my study Bible on an old desk someone made for me, which now was in our basement.  It was earlier in the morning as our realtor was bringing someone to see our home mid-morning.  Finishing my reading of the Bible, I wondered if I should put it away in one of the bottom drawers of my desk.  You know how people are today–so easily offended even at the ‘good book’.  Should I pack it away not causing any disturbance?  After all, we do want to sell our home!

I wondered…but only for about a quarter-of-a-second!  Immediately, I put my Bible down right where it always was.  No hiding. No cover-up. Not now.  Hopefully, not ever.  The Bible stayed…come what may.  Sale or no sale.   Daniel had it much rougher than anything I’ve ever experienced.  Imagine having your name changed from a godly one to one that praised the god of a false religion.  Like our boys Jonathan, David and Andrew now Buddha, Confusius, and Shinto.  Would be horrible.  Wrenching and tearing at our hearts.

That’s what happened to Daniel and his three friends.  They were learning all kinds of pagan philosophy, false religious doctrines, rewritten history while under the care and education of the best teachers in Babylon.  The things of the true God were thrust way to edge of their lives. Or were they?  They could have been, except that these four were committed to their God… and nothing, and I mean nothing, was going to shake their faith and trust in Yahweh God.  Nothing.  In this anti-Christian society we live in, dig your faith-heels in real deep.  Make a stand.  Take a stand.  Don’t be moved.  Leave your Bible front-and-center in your life, and be unashamed to let others know that you know the Lord of All, come what may.  Sale or no sale.  Your faith is not for sale.  Period.

Prayer:  Lord, we stand with you.  When all else has failed, we know that you will lift us up.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.