Hold on to Good and Abstain from Evil - Daniel 1-2 and I John 4
Paul's admonition in I Thessalonians is very appropriate for us today as we begin the book of Daniel, and we continue in I John. Daniel was a young Jewish man, who was taken into exile in a foreign land and taught a new language and culture. He could have decided to forget about God and adopt the ways of the Babylonians. Instead, he held on to the good that he had been taught, and he continued to trust in the One True God instead of the idols. God was so pleased with this decision that He blessed him physically, and he was promoted to a very high leadership position after he told king Nebuchadnezzar his dream and the interpretation. Through it all Daniel did not cease to give God all of the glory for what he did. He refused to give in to the evil of pride and the other sensual sins of the pagans around him. This simple philosophy kept Daniel right with God and fully blessed the whole time he was in this sinful country. The same is true for us today, if we will hold on to good and abstain from evil.
John gives us a specific example. God is love, and therefore, love is very good. God wants us to love Him and others with His godly love. It is hard to do in a world of hate and envy, but we are to hold to the good and abstain from the evil of hatred. It is easy to convince ourselves that hating others is OK. Maybe someone has hurt us, so we want to hurt them back. That is evil. Maybe someone is an evil person, so we want to treat them badly. God says no. He wants us to love everyone as He loves everyone. We don't love what they do, but we love them as people, and we try to show the love of God to them in every way we can while we abstain from hating or even the sin of ignoring someone. That is as bad as hate, because it is not love. God has called us to love in deed and not just in word. I pray that we will see how important it is to hold fast to love and to abstain from every form of "non-love", because God loved us so much that He would come to earth to die for us. He wants us to show that love to those around us no matter what happens.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Daniel 3-4 and I John 5.
John gives us a specific example. God is love, and therefore, love is very good. God wants us to love Him and others with His godly love. It is hard to do in a world of hate and envy, but we are to hold to the good and abstain from the evil of hatred. It is easy to convince ourselves that hating others is OK. Maybe someone has hurt us, so we want to hurt them back. That is evil. Maybe someone is an evil person, so we want to treat them badly. God says no. He wants us to love everyone as He loves everyone. We don't love what they do, but we love them as people, and we try to show the love of God to them in every way we can while we abstain from hating or even the sin of ignoring someone. That is as bad as hate, because it is not love. God has called us to love in deed and not just in word. I pray that we will see how important it is to hold fast to love and to abstain from every form of "non-love", because God loved us so much that He would come to earth to die for us. He wants us to show that love to those around us no matter what happens.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Daniel 3-4 and I John 5.