By Dave Freer
Read Daniel 1
If there is one word that sums up life for me, it is Discipline. Discipline is what prepares you for what is ahead. If you don’t discipline your kids, life will go easy at first but will become very difficult later. If you are not disciplined with what you eat, life will be comfortable now, but your health will pay the price later. And if you are not disciplined in keeping physically active, you will find yourself unable to do things for yourself as you get older. Daniel and his friends had disciplined themselves to follow God. Today we will look at how that discipline helped them stay true to God, and ultimately gave them success.
- Knowing that the king’s food would have been the best tasting and the best quality food in the country, notice that Daniel and his friends did not let themselves be tempted even just a little. They could have had a little steak and one glass of wine. Who would have cared? But they wanted to honour God and did not allow themselves to give temptation a chance.
- Do you think Daniel and his friends ever thought about the food they could have been eating? It was right there. They would have seen the others enjoying it. How hard is it for you when someone brings out a yummy desert and you know for your health you shouldn’t, but one piece won’t hurt? Do you think Daniel was ever tempted to eat some?
- Do you think the king ever knew Daniel and his friends never ate his food? The point for Daniel and his friends was not to show the king that their God was bigger. But to honour God.
Ask God to help you put more discipline into your life. Get up 15 minutes early to pray and read the bible (even when you don’t feel like it). Walk around the block every day. And don’t be tempted to miss a day. If Daniel just had one cup of wine, this story could have had a very different ending. So, the word for today is discipline.