Why We Need Purpose

In Daniel 1 we read how King Nebuchadnezzar brought Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, into his court and tested their loyalty to God by offering them Babylonian delicacies. You can be sure it was some of the finest food on earth.

But Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego would not eat the food at the king’s table because for them, it was a compromise. It may be because the food was dedicated to pagan gods, or it may have been because some of it was forbidden under Mosaic Law, and they were Jews. Whatever the case, they were unwilling to compromise their principles.

Now that may seem like a little thing to us. They should have just eaten. When in Babylon, be like the Babylonians. Come on, don’t be so legalistic. Don’t be so fanatical. But it was important to them.

It was that commitment at an early age that gave them the moorings to face the challenges that came later in life. Had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego failed in this test, they would have never made it when it came time to bow before the king. They would have caved into pressure and bowed with everyone else before the golden idol that the king had erected. But they didn’t compromise because they were men of purpose, and they stood up when everyone bowed.

And had Daniel failed to pass this test, he would not have had the fortitude and grit to stand up, or in his case, to kneel and to pray to his God, even though a decree had been signed by the king that made it illegal.

These were men of purpose. Are you a man or a woman of purpose? Without purpose and direction in your life, you can throw it all away.