LIVING IN BABYLON

   It may just be me (and that could very well be) but it seems society is changing at an ever greater pace.  Words on TV that were once restricted to only the cable channels now flow freely even during the so-called-family hours.  Moral positions once thought common sense are being turned over right and left.  In some cases there may be a reason for the change, but often it just seems that folks don’t want anyone or anything standing in their way of acting in whatever way they want.  We are sowing the wind and reaping a whirlwind.  As Christians are we just being prudes, behind the times and out of step?  How do we even respond to a world that seems turned upside down?
One person who could relate to our dilemma is Daniel.  When Babylon took over Judea a lot of people found their once secure way of life turned on its head.  How could God abandon us?  How could he allow us to be taken off as captives?  How are we to make sense of this new life?  Daniel was a young man at the beginning of the story.  He grew up in a strange land and faced many tests to his faith.  Yet even as an old man, in the face of lions no less, his faith held firm.  We aren’t quite living in Babylon, though it may seem like it.  What can we learn from Daniel’s faith?  Over the next several weeks I will be preaching from the book of Daniel on these lessons.  Not only can we survive in this changing world, with God’s strength we can learn to thrive.