November 29
Daniel 6:1-28; 2 Peter 3:1-18; Psalm 119:129-152; Proverbs 28:21-22
What happens when following God makes your life more difficult? Will you value obedience to God or comfort and conformity as worth living for? This is the choice that God’s people have had to make throughout the ages.
Daniel was faced with a choice to pray to the king or pray to the one true God. The consequence of his choice was potential death, but he chose to obey God over the king’s edict. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he was willing to die rather than conform to the idolatrous ways of the world around him. He chose to live according to God’s eternal glory rather than seek the temporary, fleeting pleasures of the world.
Peter wrote to a church with similar tensions. They were surrounded by people who mocked the idea of Christ’s return and so rather than living for eternity, embraced momentary happiness as their highest value. Instead, we, like them, are called to be people who “live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God.” We are to live for eternity and embrace how that is going to make our lives look very different from those around us. So, let us choose God over the things of this world, and choose the reality of eternity over conformity to today.
Father God, help me to live for you in all I do. Help me to have my eyes fixed on you, the reality of Christ’s return, and the truth of eternity. Help me to flee from the selfish, sinful ways of the world, and live for you. Amen.
Question: How can you learn to live for eternity rather than today?
What happens when following God makes your life more difficult? Will you value obedience to God or comfort and conformity as worth living for? This is the choice that God’s people have had to make throughout the ages.
Daniel was faced with a choice to pray to the king or pray to the one true God. The consequence of his choice was potential death, but he chose to obey God over the king’s edict. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he was willing to die rather than conform to the idolatrous ways of the world around him. He chose to live according to God’s eternal glory rather than seek the temporary, fleeting pleasures of the world.
Peter wrote to a church with similar tensions. They were surrounded by people who mocked the idea of Christ’s return and so rather than living for eternity, embraced momentary happiness as their highest value. Instead, we, like them, are called to be people who “live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God.” We are to live for eternity and embrace how that is going to make our lives look very different from those around us. So, let us choose God over the things of this world, and choose the reality of eternity over conformity to today.
Father God, help me to live for you in all I do. Help me to have my eyes fixed on you, the reality of Christ’s return, and the truth of eternity. Help me to flee from the selfish, sinful ways of the world, and live for you. Amen.
Question: How can you learn to live for eternity rather than today?
Recent
Archive
2025
January
January 1January 2January 3January 4January 5January 6January 7January 8January 9January 10January 11January 12January 13January 14January 15January 16January 17January 18January 19January 20January 21January 22January 23January 24January 25January 26January 27January 28January 29January 30January 31
2024
June
Categories
no categories
No Comments