March 3, 2019

The Shepherd's Corner

THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

Live differently
These weeks I thought we could look at one of my favorite Old Testament prophets – Daniel.
Daniel was a part of Israel when Babylon came, took most of the people captive, took them away from Jerusalem. Even though there had been warnings & prophecy about this captivity, the people of Israel didn’t listen. How many times God gives us warnings, and for whatever reason, we simply don’t listen also? God calls us to live differently – that means that life might not necessarily be easy or accepted, but there is a definite difference in the way the people of God should live their lives.
When we start the book of Daniel we are brought into prison where Daniel and his friends were given the king’s choice food and since they were royalty, they were being prepared to serve the king.
But there was one problem – the food wasn’t what their God had told them to eat. What could you do – you were a slave, held in captivity, told by the king in power what to eat – what would you have done? They struck a deal. Let us eat according to our God’s ways and see how we look compared to the others and if we look better, let us keep eating like our God tells us. Seems like a fair deal.
If you know the story of Daniel – you know they looked better and got to keep eating the way God instructed them.
They had every excuse and reason to go ahead and change – it was only food, but they took a stand – a stand to live differently and live according to God’s way and it paid off.
How many times do we miss the opportunity for the world to see that living for God pays off because we simply don’t take a stand in the first place?
How can you begin to live differently wherever you are at so people can see that follow God pays off?

Pastor Steve

More Shepherd's Corner Articles

The Shepherd's Corner - January 03, 2021
THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER Growing up I did not hear words like vision and mission that much, but now I hear them a lot.  The mantra from every management and leadership guru is every effective organization must have its vision and mission, and that includes churches. It is of course fine to have ...
Read More
The Shepherd's Corner - February 11, 2024
First, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to visit my mom in Indonesia.  Thanks to your prayers, she is now making good progress.  While there, I flew to Malang and spent a day to visit with friends in the seminary who are ill.  By the grace of God, they are [&hel...
Read More
The Shepherd's Corner - October 15, 2017
[:en]THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER Psalm 3 David is in trouble. Big trouble. His son is chasing him and wants to kill him. Could you imagine what that would feel like? To actually have your own son hunting you down! I would be heartbroken. In this moment David cries out to God and says, "But you, Lord, [&...
Read More