Challenged Champion For Christ Bible Blog 4
Chameleon Christianity
Shadrach, Meshach And Abednego
replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar we do not need to defend ourselves before you in
this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace the God we serve is able
to save us from it and he will rescue us from your hand. But even if he does
not we want you to know O king that we will not worship this golden image which
you have set up. Daniel 3 17-18
Peer pressure is something we all
face everyday of our lives in one way or another. This is true both for
Christian and non Christian . Peer pressure is when a person or persons feels pressure
to become like everyone else. Many things can cause this. It can range from
fear of rejection, wanting to be accepted by others, to feeling like a person
will lose a certain job or friend if they don’t act or live a certain way. This
is epically true when it comes to Christianity. I meet so many people who claim
to be followers of Christ and yet they live there lives like everyone else in
the world because of the fear that peer pressure places on their lives. This is
what my youth professor calls chameleon Christianity. Blending in to be like
everyone else in the world in order to be loved and accepted by the world. This
kind of living goes against everything that the gospel teaches. Jesus tells us in
his word that we are to be in the world but not “of the world”. James in his epistle makes it clear in chapter
4 that anyone who is a friend of this world makes himself an enemy of God.
What is it that causes a person to
develop a continued habit of chameleon like Christianity? I believe the main
reasons is fear. Many times I meet Christians, predominantly Christian
teenagers who are afraid of what will happen if they step out and dare to take
a stand for God and Jesus Christ. Many times Christians are
afraid of the fiery furnace experience they will suffer at the hands of the
world when they decided to make a difference for Christ.
Just this past week I happen to run
across one of my favorite Bible stories that tells what happen to three Godly
men who took a stand for God and who walked through a furnace. Not just a
worldly one, but an honest to goodness flame breathing real one! The event takes place in Daniel chapter
3. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon
had built a large Golden statue based on a vision he had received from the Lord
which was later interpreted by the prophet Daniel in Chapter 2. In the dream the king of Babylon stood
before a great statue which had a head of gold, a chest and arms of silver, its
legs and feet were made of bronze and it toes were made out of clay. The king
was told that this statue that was made up of many parts and represented four
different kingdoms that were to come in the future. Nebuchadnezzar was told
that his kingdom was the head of gold. However sometime later the king decided
that instead of just being the head of the statue he wanted to be the whole
statue. So he made a statue out of pure gold and issued a command that everyone
who saw the statue was to fall down and worship the statue that was made in his
image. This command was not just for the Israelites who had been taken into
bondage but this was a command that was to be obeyed by all nations. Those who
refused to obey the command would be thrown alive into a fiery furnace. That’s exactly what happens to Daniels
three friends. Scripture tells us that when the people heard the trumpet sound
they were to fall down and worship the golden image. However Daniel’s three
friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to fall down and worship the
image. Furious, the king declared that these men were to be thrown into a fire
that was seven times hotter then usual. In fact this furnace was so hot that
when the attendants opened the door to throw these three men in the attendants
were burned alive. We can only image the fear these three men felt as they
stood before the fire. Yet
something amazing happened in this story. The Bible tells us that on that day
instead of seeing three men enter the furnace the king of Babylon saw four men
in the furnace and the fourth one was like a son of man. I believe that this
son of man was none other then the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Christ was
walking with these three men and was ready to deliver them from the fire
brought on them by the world. In
the same way he walks with us when
we face fiery furnaces brought on us by the world as well.
Today we as Christians will face
many fiery furnace experiences- there is no doubt about it. Jesus clearly states
in John chapter 16:33 that in this world we will have trouble. However he also
tells us to be of good cheer. Why?
Because he has overcome the world.
He did this by his death on the cross. Because of what Jesus Christ did for us
on the cross we can rest assured that not matter what we face in this world, he
will be with us the same way he was with those three Godly men in the furnace
that day in Babylon. We will come
through untouched by what the world throws at us.
A Challenge from the Challenged
Champion.
Are you going through a fiery
furnace experience right now brought on to you by the pressure to be like
everyone else. We all have those kind
of experiences at different times in our lives. Maybe it’s a simple thing like taking a break that’s five
minutes too long, or talking and backstabbing people in leadership. Maybe it’s just hanging with the wrong
people who are always negative about everything. Maybe it’s bigger than that. Being in any environment that encourages you to behave in a
way that is not Christ like would qualify as a “the fiery furnace of peer
pressure”.
These three Godly men faced this
same challenged and they refused become like everyone else. They took a stand for
God and got thrown into a furnace. In today’s terms they “just said no!” God was with them to helped them
get through it.
Maybe that’s you- maybe you have
taken a stand for Christ and are now in a fiery furnace. Or maybe you need to
take a stand and step into the fiery
furnace. If you are there ask
God to give the strength to get through it. Trust me, he will be with you to
help you get through the ordeal the same way he was with these three men. You
must only ask for his help. Remember First Peter states, “cast all your cares upon him for he
cares for you”.