3 Steps to Being a KINGDOM BUILDER in Your Life Today - Part 1预览

In this 5-day Bible plan, we uncover the first of three key ideas to help you live as a Kingdom-building Christian in your daily life at home, around town, and at work.

The idea is this: Just be NICER.

This might sound strange, but there’s a key idea behind each letter of the word N-I-C-E-R for you to discover in this study plan.

Today, we start with the letter “N,” which stands for “No compromises,” and check in with Daniel of the Old Testament.

Daniel was one of the talented young men taken into exile in Babylon, the capital city of Assyria. The Babylonians put Daniel and some of his friends into a training program to indoctrinate them so that they might help rule the Jewish people whom they were holding in captivity.

Think of it as mandatory management training.

As part of the training program, Daniel and his friends were asked to abandon their dietary standards and beliefs (”no pork”) in favor of the meals prescribed by the king of Babylon himself.

Daniel’s predicament was not too different from a situation that you might encounter today—where you might be expected to compromise your beliefs to follow the culture at work or in your community of friends.

But read Daniel 1:8-14 to see what Daniel does… He doesn’t just give up on his beliefs to fall in line, but instead comes up with a creative plan to protect his personal beliefs and, in the process of doing so, protect his supervisor also.

Like Daniel, you too should strive for “No compromises” — not by being rigid in your beliefs or inflexible, but by combining a secure stance in your faith with a gentle and respectful response to others.

Just like Daniel did.

Daniel’s three friends put this idea of “No compromises” to the test – and their lives on the line – when they respectfully refused to bow down to worship the image fashioned by King Nebuchadnezzar. Check how their witness impacted the king as God protected them through their fiery trial:

Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.” – Daniel 3:28

The idea of “No compromises” in your life is equally important. But it can be difficult and tempting to take the easy route with maybe just a wee bit of compromise.

King Saul, the first king of Israel, decided that a little compromise was ok, especially since he was dedicating his decision to the Lord. But even that was not acceptable:

“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. – 1 Samuel 15:14-15,35b

You see, ”No compromises” really means no compromises. God demands complete obedience, and any time you feel like you might just let a little something slide to make life easier at work, home, or elsewhere, remember the stories of Daniel & Saul.

“No compromises” is the first step to a solid Christian walk that bears witness to the power and love of the God we serve.

Can you do that?