407: You Are What You Eat
As promised last week, we are starting a new series that will focus on Daniel in the Old Testament. I think I have enough material for an eight or nine week series, but let's see how it goes as we move through the material.
MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED
In most American high schools, graduating seniors elect one of their classmates whom they deem most likely headed to future success. Daniel didn’t go to high school, but if he had, he would have been elected. How do I know this? Let’s consider the kind of young people that King Nebuchadnezzar was looking for to serve in his kingdom: “Young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace” (Daniel 1:4).
Since Daniel was chosen, we know that he qualified based on the listed criteria—smart and good-looking. Daniel had a bright future in his homeland of Judah, but God had other plans. Before he knew it, this young teenager was whisked off to Babylon, selected for royal duty and given a three-year crash course in Babylonian culture.
What was involved in this crash course? Daniel was sent to language school. Then he was given a new name – Beltheshezzar—which contained the name of one of the main Babylonian gods, Bel. He was placed under the care of the chief of the eunuchs. Now I ask you: Why would Daniel be under this man unless they had made Daniel a eunuch himself? Can you imagine? Here was this bright young man, with his whole future ahead of him. Suddenly he’s living in a foreign land, called by the name of a foreign god, learning a strange culture, and facing a future that didn’t include a wife and family!
Yet Daniel distinguished himself throughout his Babylonian career. He was a man of skill and efficiency and also penned a book in the Bible that carries his name. What enabled this man to be so successful?
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT.
Daniel was a man of purpose, but he was also a man of values. When he first arrived in Babylon to become a royal official, he was assigned royal rations to eat. Daniel, however, refused: “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way” (Daniel 1:8). If I am a teenager, having gone through all that Daniel had been through, the last thing I would have been concerned with was eating the local food. Daniel knew the dietary laws of a Jew, however, and was determined to maintain a kosher diet even in Babylon. As a young man, Daniel knew what was important to him and he was determined to follow those values no matter what.
The most impressive thing to me is that Daniel had such well-defined values at an early age. The second most impressive thing is that he was committed to follow them, even in a foreign land after his life had been turned upside down. Have you defined your values? If so, do you think you could follow them if you went through what Daniel went through? I’m not sure that I could.
So your assignment this week is to do some work to define your values. If they worked for Daniel, they will work for you. I have an article on my website outlining how to do this entitled “How to Define Your Governing Values.” Can you spend 60 minutes this week giving thought and expression to what is important to you? I certainly hope you can, for values are a critical part of your PurposeQuest. As you work on yours, I will also review mine this week to see if they need adjusted and, more importantly, to determine if I’m living them! If I can help you, let me know. Otherwise have a great week! I know I will.
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1. THE SOPHIA FUND UPDATE: $267 came in last week for The Sophia Fund, which is a great week of income for which I am grateful. As you know by now, I am using the money to feed AIDS orphans and widows in Kenya and Zimbabwe.
I wrote an update and a thank you for those who have given to the Fund four weeks ago and you can read it here. You can also read about my rationale for The Fund here (named after my late mother).
Please consider a contribution of at least $5 toward the fund
and hopefully more. You can use the "Chipin" widget on the Monday Memo site to contribute, or go directly to my website
to contribute there through PayPal, or send a tax-deductible check to
PurposeQuest, PO Box 91099, Pittsburgh, PA 15221. Make sure you let me
know it is for The Sophia Fund. Don't delay; give today and make a
difference in the world. If you give a gift of $35 or more up until July 31, I will send you a free copy of my latest book, Changing the Way We Do Church: 7 Steps to Purposeful Reformation, which is pictured to the left.
2. REVELATION: I still need your help, although I had two good leads for publishing two weeks ago but no money. Every week I am ready to remove this plea and every week I feel the Lord tell me to keep it in. I have finished a devotional focusing on the book of Revelation and I feel an urgent need to self-publish this work, which will cost about $2,500. I wrote about this project in my blog a few months ago and encourage you to read what I wrote there. You can also read some sample excerpts of the book here.
In that post, I explain my urgency in wanting to get it out for people to read. Once you read my rationale, please consider if the Lord wants you to help me to restore an important book of the Bible that has been distorted by so many weird interpretations. I know there is someone out there who is going to help me with this project. Maybe it is you.
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