Choose Your Battles! by Linden Malki

Daniel and his three friends had a choice to make, and there is more to their story than meets the eye.  They were faced with an opportunity to be educated in the palace of Nebucadnezzar, and given the food and wine the King got. For the Jewish boys, the problem was that the palace food was not "kosher" and from questionable sources, and unacceptable to them.

We know the deal the boys made with the King's steward, but there are several points that we don't usually think about.  There are several attitudes that that they could have had, which from the outside would look basically the same.  They were obedient in following the dietary rules they had grown up with.  They could have seen it as something comfortable and familiar, and not thought about it overmuch. How much of what we do is habit and routine--what we see our families do as a matter of course. Many of these things are valuable in themselves and keep us out of trouble, but do we actually think about what we're doing and why? There is the classic story of the mom who always cut the ends off of the roast when she put the pan in the oven. Finally her daughter asked why she did this, and her answer was "because my mom always did it." Then they went to grandma, and her answer was "Because my roasting pan wasn't big enough."

 They could have  nagged the other boys from other places about eating "impure" food and winding up sick, or in an uncomfortably hot place. We can--with the best of motives--be a pain in the neck. There are some things we see people do that need to be dealt with--somebody walking into oncoming traffic, for example.  Some things are in the category of advice, but we need to be very careful.  I might say "That might not be the best idea";  but if that gets no response or a negative response, drop it. Anything you say from that point on is going to harden the resistance; but I've occasionally heard something that I offered as a suggestion being quoted by the recipient later.

They could have made a big deal about doing something special, which would give them "points" for their obedience.  The problem of this is that the credit they are fishing for is social or religious credit, which is what Jesus dealt with in Matthew 6 when he described things, even prayers, done for a human audience.  The problem with this audience is that it can't offer anything more than human credit. We hear people say "But I'm a good person; I help people; I take care of my family.." but that's the credit that you get.  I suspect that there are too many people--in and out of churches--who worry more about what people think than what God thinks.

From what we read, those boys were willing to offer their obedience to God, which is what the Lord requires: To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.