THURSDAY, APRIL 5
Daniel 1:8a
Deuteronomy 31:6

“Be strong and of a good
courage, fear not …”

COURAGE FOSTERS CONVICTION

Daniel was a young man who had convictions that were based on the instruction of God. This instruction was absolutely reliable and was thus to be obeyed without hesitation and without question.

Many of our experiences today cause us to awaken to the realization that we are influenced by more than one set of values and standards and goals. Thus, many apparently mature Christian adults find themselves gripped with uncertainty. They do not know how to fit into certain situations. Christian young people face even greater fears and frustrations when they sense that they are in many ways “different” from others.

It is the unusual teenager in “advanced” civilizations today who is not involved in drugs, premarital sex, or other activities that destroy their moral being. Sadly, the pressures are intensifying. Modern education focuses on a man-centered ideology that erases God and biblical values. Children from Christian homes are discovering that they must become modern-day Daniels or else sink into the morass of sinful worldliness that surrounds them. They must fear God and obey His precious Word in order to survive the tides of humanism that threaten to drown their budding faith.

Many Christian parents today want their children to be socially acceptable rather than being Daniels. Thus, they are an important part of the problem and will answer to their Lord at the Judgment Seat (2 Cor 5:10). True Christian parents must constantly pray that God may enable them to challenge their children: “Dare to be a Daniel; dare to stand alone; dare to have a purpose firm; dare to make it known.”

THOUGHT: “If we don’t worship God in our homes we may never prepare our families to live as effective Christians in our society” (Campbell).
PRAYER: O my God and my King, enable me by Thy grace to be a spiritual model to young people (including my own children) of deep courage and conviction.