TODAY IN THE WORD
When the early Bohemian reformer John Hus was brought to the stake to be burned for his stand for Christ, he was given a chance to renounce his teachings. But the courageous reformer replied, 'What I have taught with my lips, I now seal with my blood.' Hus died for his commitment to the truth.

What John Hus believed about God was as important to him as it was to the prophet Daniel. Daniel in the lions' den is one of those Bible stories we adult Christians ought to read a couple of times a year, just to remind ourselves of the kind of courage it takes to stand for the Lord.

You may not see any great theological statement made by Daniel in these verses. In a way, that's true. Daniel is only quoted once in the text (vv. 21-22). The irony is that the good theology flows from King Darius after the incident (vv. 26-27).

But the whole story came about as a result of the quality we have been studying the past few days. Daniel placed his commitment to God above every other loyalty in his life, because what he believed about the true God was the most important thing to this courageous prophet.

Daniel's faith was the same here as it was years earlier with his three friends. The God of Israel was the only true God, and He had commanded His people to worship no one else. Therefore, Daniel would not bow to any idol, regardless of the cost involved.

Daniel wound up in the den of lions because Darius's vanity led him to agree to a very bad idea cooked up by some very bad men.

Talk about bad theology. The government officials who hatched the plot knew Daniel wouldn't go for it, and they were right. In the words of our theme this month, theology mattered way too much to Daniel for him to accommodate a human king's ego.

There's no doubt that God's nature and power were the focus of Daniel's theology. Darius made that clear in his prayer for Daniel just before the stone was put in place (v. 16). He knew what Daniel believed.

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TODAY ALONG THE WAY
This story is really the same song, second verse when it comes to the importance of what we believe about God.

Today, on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, God's people need to examine how their belief in God needs to impact their attitudes toward others. We worship the God who, in Christ, has broken down every racial and cultural barrier that seeks to divide us. Reconciliation is not only possible, it is God's will that we be one body. Let's pray today that God's people will lead the way across all barriers.

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