Have you decided not to defile?

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

There are very interesting stories of Daniel and his three countrymen in the time of exile in the land of Babylon. But all those stories are started with a simple truth of making decisions not to defile with the royal treatment. The King Nebuchadnezzar chose Daniel and other young men among the captives and ordered his chief to train them so that they can serve in the king’s palace. In Daniel 1: 4 it says the selected are “young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified” and then special treatment of food and training was given to them verse 5.

But Daniel made a decision and also had as unshakable faith in God so he decided not to eat the royal food and asked only for a vegetable to eat and drink only water. Even he told to the Chief to compare them with the others after ten days (Daniel 1:11-14). What the king arranged and Daniel’s decision are quiet opposite. A lot can be said by comparing the two. But the main point here is about Daniel’s decision, and faith. In our day-to-day life, how do we make decisions. Especially in these days that only how we look on the outside, how much money we have in the bank, what kind of car or house we have, in general the material possessions we have are considered as success. If our eyes are on those then we do whatever it takes to get them. Sin easily get its way in us; sins like selfishness, lie, bribe, greed, cheating,... etc. To get what the world thinks best it is easy to defile ourselves. When our goal is hanging only on how we look and how much we have, then we are easily found ourselves chasing those in a wrong way. But, if we decided like Daniel not to defile ourselves, the result will be different. We might be considered as fools, stupids and even old-fashioned. But at the end we will save ourselves form the great disaster every day and on the final day. It might take time to see the result of our decision not to defile but we will be rewarded indeed at the right time. The main way to get the whole inward and outward success is waiting on the Lord. After 10 days Daniel and the other three young men looked healthier and more nourished (Daniel 1:15). Have you decided not to defile and not to take the shortcut to get rich or famous? When God’s time comes you will look better than the others who took the shortcut, wait in the Lord. At the end, Daniel served in prominent positions in the governments of several Babylonian and Medo-Persian rulers, including Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius and Cyrus. Daniel’s wonderful and interesting successes were the result of his firm decision at the very beginning not to defile himself with the royal food and wine. Have you decided? 

“Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its people and their animals, even if these three men—Noah, Daniel and Job—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord.” Ezekiel 14:13-14