“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able
to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand.
But even if He does
not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or
worship the image of gold you have set up.”
I wonder, would I be ready and bold
enough to state, “even if He does not I will not serve your gods or worship
your images!” I marvel at the stalwart
stance of these three men and I think my faith is as strong and bold, but when
faced with the fiery furnace would I bend my knee?
This causes me to reflect on normal,
everyday life and the opportunities facing us all the time to bend our
knees. Jokes told around the water
cooler that are off-color, taking that small token of appreciation from a
vendor when company rules state we should not, or how about taking home office
supplies or printing something personal on the company color printer – whose god
am I serving then? What about speeding,
just a little, or my sudden burst of vocabulary choices, or
taking advantage of a friend’s senior discount.
Oh, but no fiery furnace is attached to those minor infractions,
right? Maybe not today, but what
about eternity’s choices? The gods I serve
in the here and now tell much about my relationship to the One True God whom I
say has saved my soul. Either I operate
in this world without bending my knee to social norms and I serve the God who
set me free from slavery, from sin and death or I don’t. There’s really no middle ground.
Well that’s a lot to chew on
today! I wonder if we just get use to
the temperature of today’s temptations, to the cultural norms that assuage our
conscience and make us comfortable bending our knee. After all, the music is usually quite lovely
at the foot of golden idols, isn’t it? mmmmmsuemccarysargis
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