Right Priorities

You and I make hundreds of decisions throughout the day. Many of them are easy and we just base the answer on how we feel in the moment. But what if we to decide on something that makes us feel uncomfortable or that we feel goes against our beliefs? That’s a tough one. I know that in our culture, there are many times people think something is ok because you will get away with it or maybe because in the end, it will be alright.

In this week’s chapter, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were chosen as elite refugees who were going to be trained to serve their new king. They probably were young, maybe even just teens. You would think that the easy and smart thing for a teen in a new country and a new environment is to just blend in and not make waves. Nope, not these guys.

Probably at the first meal, Daniel tells the head guy in charge of them that he and his friends won’t eat the king’s food given to them. That alone could warrant getting kicked out of this elite program, or worse, death. But Daniel and his friends refuse because they do not want to disobey God. They are willing to face death or whatever consequence may come in order to follow God. And they were only teens!

This was not the first major decision that they would face in captivity. No, they would each be tested again and they would have to choose between life and death. And they did marvelously, never compromising or bowing or even hesitating in their commitment to God. These young man had their priorities straight. They knew that they must put God first and they actively did it.

​Sometimes we get muddled up in our priorities, not realizing what is important. C.S. Lewis says “Put first things first and we get second things thrown in: put second things first and we lose both first and second things.” This week, my prayer is that we will understand more clearly what our priorities should be and how we can put them first.

​Ivan