Daniel 1:8 But Daniel PURPOSED in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the kings delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself."
Ever find yourself looking at others and the sins they have committed and thinking " wow I would never ever do that." ?
And then lo and behold you fall into something similar not too far down the road in your own life?
This has happened to me countless times.
I can remember as a young person i would watch lifetime ( not recommended) and i would see movies of girls who were anorexic or bulimic and would then think to myself " that is just gross i would never do something like that!"
When only a few short years later i found myself in that very same sin.
I have seen this scenario described and lived out time and again. People will look at a sin and say " that will and could never happen to me." And a lot of times they fall into the very same.
Why and how does this happen though? Cause to the outsider it appears when we say " That would never happen to me" that we are in an essence saying and identifying with Daniel in purposing in our hearts not to do this or that sin.
When in reality we actually are NOT purposing in our hearts!
What we are doing may LOOK like that or may SOUND like it but it is not.
Most people when they say " I would never do that" have an attitude of pride backing up their words.
They are not saying that they would never ALLOW themselves to do it they are saying that they are ABOVE doing it. There is a huge difference.
When i watched those movies with skinny girls flashing across the screen doing horrible things to their bodies to lose weight that they did not need to lose , my thought was " I am above that... I am not capable of that."
When in reality i need to humbly realize that yes i am CAPABLE of that ( and obviously was.)
I need to realize that I am NOT above ANY sin!
I have a heart that is so deceitful no HUMAN can FULLY know it and since we know that from the heart is where our actions stem then that would mean that truly i am capable of anything.
So what now? Once we have realized that we are not above sin what should we do?
We should purpose in our hearts to NOT fall into sin.
Realize that we are capable but also at the same time that through Gods strength we can over come Phil 4:13 and 1 Corinthians 10:13.
Funny how if everyone were to have this approach NO ONE would ever be looked down on because of their sin! People as a whole would be a lot more forgiving towards the repentant one . We would all realize that " hey we are all CAPABLE of the very same"!
Romans 2:3 says " And do you think o man that you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same that you will escape Gods judgment."
We are all capable of committing the same sins! I am no better than the rapist in jail! Or the wife who has committed adultery and so on and so on.
We are all EQUALLY guilty. We all stand on the same level Psalm 130: 3 " If you o LORD marked our sins who would stand?"!
The difference is if we are striving to live for God and His glory!
But still realizing that anytime you do not sin that it is ONLY the GRACE of God at work!
So next time I am tempted to look at someones sin and say " I would never do that" or think that i am somehow better than so and so i need to remember that i am only where i am by Gods grace and that i am NOT any better than anyone else.
So lets try to be like Daniel, who was just as capable as every other teen captive in his day yet humbly purposed in his heart not to follow the crowd.
I love the song dare to be a Daniel ( though a simple child's song what truth it holds!). It goes something like this:
Dare to be a Daniel
Dare to stand alone
Dare to have a purpose firm
Dare to make it known.
On the same token of humbly purposing in our hearts we also need to make that purpose known. We need to not compromise. We need to stand fast for the days are evil.
We need to put on the armor of God and actually fight Satan and stop helping him win!
We need to quit letting him come in and deceive us into thinking that somehow we are above certain sins and then a little while later have the well known proverb become a reality " Pride goes before destruction a haughty spirit before a fall." We need to stop letting the father of lies reign in our hearts and yet still somehow think that we are still on the good path. When i watched those films of anorexic and bulimic girls you can bet that I thought myself as righteous and good ( whoa) but i was just heeding Satan's lies and ended up letting pride control me and I fell and fell hard like the proverb said i would! The warnings were there, if only i had heeded!
If only i had realized that even before a sin action is taken a sin of the heart must take place first Proverbs 4:23 " Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life."!
If only i had realized that just by sitting on my couch and watching those films and thinking to myself that i was better than those girls, if only i had realized that it all started there!
I used to say that my eating disorder was a result of many different things now i know that it def. was not it started on the couch while watching films of those girls and thinking to myself " nope won't ever find innocent little Bethy doing something that stupid ( cause that is literally what i thought i thought that the sin they were doing was stupid now i know it was not but in all actuality it is prideful).
I could have squashed it years before it happened if i had been searching my heart and if i had truly been examining it! But unfortunately i did not and now all i can do is be thankful and help others that i may come across with in the future who may be struggling with the same thing ( thus I feel God leading me toward counseling).
Fortunately my Father spared me from losing my life ( which i deserved to lose). And He chose to keep me here on earth not because i am in errantly good but because HE is so gracious and merciful beyond measure! He chose to forgive me totally Psalm 130:4 " But there is forgiveness with You that You may be feared." Psalm 103:3-4 " Who forgiveth ALL thy sins who healeth all thy diseases who redeems thy life from destruction: who crowns thee with loving kindness and tender mercies."
Lets not forget where we have come from!
Anyone is capable the difference realizing that we are all guilty and are capable of ANY sin but that we have a purpose of heart and that we are striving to live it out!
Dare to be humble Daniels for our KING!
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