When a country, corporation or group wants to change what people believe, they don’t start by attacking what they believe. They start by chipping away at a person’s identity. They challenge their habits, assumptions and patterns that a person finds their identity in. People then begin to internalize the new system, culture or belief system without feeling like they’ve made a conscious choice to leave their belief system behind. The education system, news, entertainment, pop culture, medical systems and local governments create a pipeline that slow,y erode the beliefs someone held tightly and flip them to the point that others who hold beliefs that they once held are seen as archaic and less enlightened. A person rarely gives up their long held beliefs on a moment. They fall prey to a system that has been used for thousands of years to get them to make small compromises.
In Daniel 1, King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonia empire besieged Jerusalem and defeated the Israelites. They captured people, especially people of influence and of the noble family, and took them back to Babylon. Verse 4 says, “Select only strong, healthy, and good-looking young men, Make sure they are well versed in every branch of learning, are gifted with knowledge and good judgment, and are suited to serve in the royal palace. Train these young men in the language and literature of Babylon” (NLT). The king was taking people that not only were physically attractive, but also educated in order to indoctrinate them in order to get the Israelites to assimilate into the Babylonian way of life, leave their faith and adopt the king as their authority rather than God. It’s the same practice used today to get Christians to change what they believe, question the Bible and adopt the culture of the world.
However, Daniel understood what was happening and we can learn from how he stood firm in a culture and system that was designed to get him to abandon his beliefs. Verse 8 says, “But Daniel was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the chief of staff for permission not to eat these unacceptable foods.” Daniel defeated Babylon’s system by first determining who had the real authority over his life, who he trusted with decisions and who he found his identity in. He guarded his daily habits, limited what the new system could change, stayed grounded in his daily spiritual disciplines and drew lines in the sand that he wouldn’t cross. Like Daniel, we must regard what God says above all else and not allow a culture that does not know Him to tell us who He is. We must stay in communication with Him through prayer, read His Word to us daily and renew our mind through the Spirit. Daily obedience is how you stand firm when your identity is under pressure.
