Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
I did a neat experiment for VBS last summer on this. If you take a cotton ball and put it in a flame it will quickly burn to ash. If you soak the cotton ball in rubbing alcohol, take it out, and set it on fire then it will not burn. The alcohol burns, but the cotton only gets warm.
Our lives are the same. The fire is the stress and hard times you will go through. Without God you will be quickly reduced to ash. With God you still go through the flames, but He takes the burning for you. You experience the hard times and yet they don't consume you.
“O King Darius, live forever! All the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction.When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
"As he had done previously"
Isn't that the thing. He prayed to God daily and it didn't matter how society changed around him. He kept on doing what was right.
Anyone can be a fair-weather christian. It is the times of trial that burn away the masks we put on. Our faith isn't a mask that we wear on the nice days. It requires living it out, not putting it on when it is popular and taking it off when it doesn't suit you.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
There is so much of our wealth, our time, and our very souls that we sacrifice for the world. To get fame. To be "loved" by man. To be rich beyond measure.
I've seen people through away their self-respect for a bit of laughter. Sure, they are being laughed at, but they are seen. I've seen fathers through away their families for just a couple more dollars. Sure, they get the money, but they are alone and hated.
Everything the world tells you to chase ... is dry grass. Dry grass waiting for the flame to quickly consume it. In an instant there is rushing heat and flames ... and then it is gone.
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