No CompromisePersecution—and the context for seeing great works of God—are the result of no compromise. One of my favorite examples is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego from the book of Daniel. Quick recap: These were Hebrew captives in Babylon when the Babylonian king decreed that everyone in the kingdom must bow to a giant idol when the music played. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego stood when others bowed, and were thrown alive into a furnace. The astonished king beheld not three men, but four, walking in the midst of the fire, and when he called the men to come out of the furnace, the three Hebrews came, without so much as the smell of smoke upon their garments. (The fourth man--an angel? the Lord Himself?--disappeared.) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego could have rationalized that they weren't really bowing to the idol in their hearts, just with their bodies, and that the Lord really knew that they loved Him more than anything else. They could have decided that it was important to live because they might be able to influence their Persian captors for the Lord; who would do it if they didn't? But they didn't rationalize. They just said: "NO! We won't do anything that even looks like we're not giving God full glory!" And they made their witness.
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Meet YaashaNone of my life has gone the way it was "supposed to go," but I don't love my life any less because of the hardships and new directions. I see so much unexpected good in it, and I want others to see the good in theirs. Archives
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