This week in the Cave, we'd like to thank our wonderful Sunday School superintendent, Wanda N., for teaching our Sunday School class! We had a lot of fun discussing the lesson with her and appreciate her hard work!
This week, we discussed the Scripture of Daniel and his friends refusing to eat King Nebuchadnezzar's food. The king wanted his future servants to eat the same food he ate, just like the rest of his servants. He appointed one of his officials to watch over the young men and give them meat and wine. It's important to remember that the Babylonian food probably didn't hold up to Jewish standards; it may not have been clean, it may have been sacrificed to idols, and it was probably a very different cuisine than they were used to. So Daniel and his friends told the official that they didn't want to eat the king's food. Instead, they asked for vegetables and water. The king's official was afraid to give it to them because, if the king saw that they were unhealthy, the official would be killed. But Daniel challenged the man to compare him and his friends to the other young men after ten days, and the official agreed. After ten days, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were healthier and stronger than the others, and the official agreed to allow them to permanently eat their chosen diet rather than the king's food.
This section of the story of Daniel is important because it's another example of how Daniel and his friends stood up for their beliefs despite pressure from others. They knew that the king's food would be unclean and that eating it would be to go against God, and they chose to do the right thing rather than the easy thing.
This verse is all about temptation. We are tempted by many things in life that seem good to us, but really they are nothing more than distractions and best and sins at worst. Temptation makes us think we are receiving a banquet, when in reality, we are weakening ourselves.
Our society places emphasis on money, power, violence, drugs, immorality, and other harmful things or actions. The media pounds images into our brains of who we should be, how we should act, what we should say, and how we should live. However, the fast, glamorous, and often self-destructive lifestyle portrayed in movies and on TV is not the lifestyle that God wants for us.
In our first week of studying Daniel, we learned that sin separates us from God, and while it isn't a sin to make money or or watch violence on TV, it is wrong to let the temptations of the world distract us from our real goal.
A stone that is thrown and a word that is spoken cannot be taken back. God takes our sins away, but if we give in to temptation, we can damage ourselves and others, just like the young men who were weakened by eating the king's food. Violence, immoral acts, harsh words, and abuse of power, among other things, are all damaging actions that cannot be undone, and they weaken everyone they affect.
Temptation will weaken us, and the only thing that can strengthen us is God. He is our real goal. If we keep our eyes on Him and His kingdom, we will be able to resist temptation, no matter how great it is. Because no matter how great the Devil, our sins, and Temptation may be, God will always be greater.
In the Methodist church, we believe in sanctification. This means that, even though we will never be perfect, we must always keep striving to be more Christlike and holy in our words and actions, because only in striving to be like Him will we ever be able to keep on the path He laid out for us. Just as Peter tried to walk on water and failed when he took his eyes off Jesus, we will try and fail, and be saved by Jesus just as Peter was.
But if we keep our eyes on God, no temptation will truly weaken us, and we will be able to overcome many obstacles without fear, just like Daniel and his three friends in Babylon.
Have a great week!
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