Go Out in Citizenship

Daily Reading: Daniel 6

We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God. (Daniel 6.5)

Devotional Thought: Daniel's detractors knew that he was an honest and upright man, and that they would never find any dirt on him… unless it had to do with his religion!  They knew that Daniel was totally devoted to God and in that devotion, they just may be able to find his Achilles' heel.

When I read their estimation of Daniel – “We shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel” – I immediately thought about the compass we used at Bethel Nazarene to help us remember “the marks of a disciple.”  One thing that marks a follower of Jesus Christ is that he or she “goes out in citizenship.”  What that means is that Christ-followers are to live their faith outside the church.  We are to be the best citizens and neighbors, the best husbands and wives, the best workers and employers that we can be.  Let no one ever find any fault against us – unless it is that we love God and others too much for their liking!  In Daniel’s case that meant he was to be the best government official he could be and to do it with honesty and integrity.

What about you?  Would people at work describe you as the best worker in the company?  The most conscientious?  The most honest?  Would your neighbors describe you as the friendliest and most helpful?  Would your family describe you as being the best son or daughter, husband or wife, father or mother, brother or sister?  May there be no fault found in us except the fault that we are like Jesus in love and integrity!

Are you a follower of Jesus Christ?  Go out and live it!

Prayer: Father, help me to love you and serve you to the very best of my ability, that I might be the very best disciple I can be.  Help me, also, to love and serve those around me, that I might be the very best citizen I can be.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 68.11-18

11 The Lord gives the word; the women who announce the news are a great host:

12 “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee! ”The women at home divide the spoil—

13 though you men lie among the sheepfolds—the wings of a dove covered with silver, its pinions with shimmering gold.

14 When the Almighty scatters kings there, let snow fall on Zalmon.

15 O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan; O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!

16 Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain, at the mount that God desired for his abode, yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?

17 The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.

18 You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.