Devotions

Living With Conviction

Most of us know what it feels like to drift. Life gets busy, temptations pile up, and before long, we’re just going through the motions. But the life of a Christian was never meant to look like that. God placed a purpose in each of us, and Daniel’s story shows us what it looks like to actually live it out.

Who Was Daniel and Why Does His Story Matter?

Daniel was likely around 14 years old when he was taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He was forced into the king’s service, stripped of his future, and placed in an entirely foreign culture. By every measure, he had every reason to compromise.

But he didn’t.

When the king placed rich food and wine before Daniel and his companions, food that had been sacrificed to idols, Daniel made a decision. He was not going to defile himself, even if it cost him comfort or safety.

What Did Daniel Actually Do?

“But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.” – Daniel 1:8

Daniel went to his supervisor and made a simple request. Let him and his friends eat only vegetables and water for ten days, then judge the results. The official was nervous, but he agreed.

After ten days, Daniel and his companions looked healthier than everyone else.

Was This About Diet, or Something Deeper?

It would be easy to read this story and focus on the food. But the point was never about calories or clean eating. The point was conviction.

Daniel refused to eat food sacrificed to idols because he had made a commitment to live according to God’s law. He wasn’t willing to let his circumstances rewrite his values. And God honored that.

The physical results were simply a reflection of a spiritual reality. When we align our lives with what God has called us to, He shows up.

What Can We Expect From Young People of Faith?

Daniel was a teenager. That’s worth sitting with for a moment.

We often underestimate what young people are capable of when it comes to faith. But Daniel’s story raises the bar. Young people can carry deep conviction. They can make hard choices. They can stand firm even when the culture around them says otherwise.

This should give us hope and raise our expectations for the next generation.

What Does It Mean to Live With Conviction Today?

Living with conviction doesn’t mean following a list of Old Testament rules. It means something more personal and more demanding than that.

It means deciding, at some point, that you are going to live for the Lord. Not halfway. Not when it’s convenient. But fully and intentionally.

That kind of conviction looks like this:

• Forsaking sin and fleeing temptation
• Pursuing holiness and obedience to God’s Word
• Maintaining a steady diet of Scripture
• Staying in active relationship with Jesus through prayer
• Doing whatever it takes to grow closer to God

Why Does God Want a Remnant With Conviction?

People carry convictions about all kinds of things. Politics. Fitness. Personal values. But what God is looking for is a group of people within His church who carry a conviction to live for Him, to stand for His righteousness, and to share His gospel.

That kind of conviction requires a personal decision. It means looking at your life honestly and asking what is weighing you down spiritually. Then choosing to cut it loose.

The goal is to live spiritually lean, free from the things that drag you away from God, and open to however He wants to use you.

What Does It Mean to Deny Yourself and Pick Up Your Cross?

Jesus was clear about what it costs to follow Him. He said His disciples must deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow Him.

Denying yourself is a practice. The more you do it, the better you get at it. There will be moments of failure. There will be times you end up in a ditch. But you can always get back up and start following again. Grace makes that possible.

Picking up your cross means living for Jesus in the everyday. It means telling people about Him. It means trusting Him even when the stakes are high.

How Did Daniel Stay Faithful His Whole Life?

Daniel is one of the rare figures in Scripture where we don’t see a recorded moral failure or major stumble. He remained faithful from his teenage years all the way through the lion’s den and beyond.

Even when his life was threatened, he kept praying. He trusted God more than He trusted in the protection of men. That kind of trust doesn’t happen by accident. It’s built through a life of consistent, daily conviction.

Life Application

This week, identify one area of your life where you have been drifting or compromising. It might be a habit, a relationship, a pattern of thinking, or something you’ve been consuming that is pulling you away from God. Make a deliberate decision to cut it out or step back from it, even if just for a set period of time, and replace it with something that draws you closer to Him. Whether that’s more time in Scripture, more intentional prayer, or simply saying no to something you’ve been saying yes to for too long.

Ask yourself these questions as you reflect:

• What is one thing in my life right now that is weighing me down spiritually?
• Have I made a personal, intentional decision to live for God, or am I still on the fence?
• In what area do I need to practice denying myself this week?
• Do I trust God more than I trust in my own comfort or the approval of others?

Daniel’s conviction wasn’t built in a moment. It was a decision he made and kept making, day after day, even when it was costly. That same life is available to you. Deny yourself. Pick up your cross. Follow Jesus. And watch what He does.

When Correction Comes Knocking

1 Kings 17:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”

One thing that is universal with weak men is that they reject correction. It doesn’t matter what kind of correction it is; they flat-out reject it by getting defensive, deflecting to someone else, or going on the attack. A sign of a mature, godly man is that they receive correction by repenting to the Lord and making the necessary corrections. Elijah brought correction to Ahab, but Ahab chose to ignore it. 

Just last week, the Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, held a hastily formed news conference to announce that two people had died of measles. One was a newborn baby. It turns out that the baby died from other complications and tested positive for measles. When confronted with the truth a couple of days later, Shapiro deflected and refused to answer any reporters’ questions. By the weekend, he had canceled most of his appearances and was meeting with a crisis management team to reshape his message. Most people are thinking, “What’s the big deal about this whole thing?” but Shapiro was trying to force a political view on people, and when it blew up in his face, he couldn’t admit his error. 

Ahab gets confronted by Elijah the prophet, his nemesis. Elijah is Ahab’s polar opposite in every way. As a man of God, he is sent to give Ahab a short message. There isn’t going to be any rain or dew for years, except at Elijah’s word. Rain was everything to Israel because it was an agrarian society. Their crops and herds relied upon the rain. This was a judgment against Ahab, but also an indictment of the god Ahab worshipped, Baal. Baal was the God of rain and crop success, and God was showing Ahab that He was superior. Instead of tearing his clothes and repenting, Ahab did nothing. He didn’t even inquire of Elijah what he could do to mediate the situation. 

It would be easy to brush this off and think we are nothing like Ahab, but think about the times you are stubborn, insisting on your own way. It may not be on the scale of Ahab, but it is the same spirit. Ahab knew Elijah was right, but he was too stubborn to admit it. His confidence in his false god and fear of his overbearing wife prevented him from receiving correction. There are a whole host of reasons behind our stubbornness, but the spirit is the same: we don’t want to admit when we are wrong. 

This is the first of many confrontations between Elijah and Ahab. God put prophets in place to speak to Israel and guide the kings. Ahab constantly rejected Elijah’s Godly advice. By the end of Ahab’s life, these confrontations became almost comical. He went to his grave refusing to acknowledge the God of Israel and heed the counsel and correction of the prophets. Ahab is a warning sign to all men who reject Biblical counsel and correction. God is undefeated in this.

How do we make corrections when we struggle in this area? First, we need to admit it before God, to our wife (be prepared for an “I told you so” moment), your pastor, and a close group of guy friends. Public acknowledgment is essential to life change. That is why being part of a men’s small group or Bible study matters. Having close confidants to work through issues is vital to spiritual growth. Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens another. 

Second, take correction and consider it before you reject it. What can you learn from it? When a person confronts you, tell them you will take what they said into consideration. Ask questions to clarify. If need be resummarize the issue to the person to make sure you got it right. Two caveats: there isn’t always a morsel of truth in every criticism; some people just like to complain. Also,  only take correction from those from whom you would take advice. 

Finally, work on your body language when confronted. Being defensive prevents you from fully hearing what the person is saying because you are formulating your defense in your mind. It also puts the person bringing this difficult subject at ease and lets them share freely. 

The Cost of a Counterfeit Man

1 Kings 16:32-33 Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. ³³ And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

If Ahab lived today, he would be a celebrity. He was a master politician and an excellent administrator, motivated more than any previous king. The world exalts people who show these traits, even when their personality flaws are glaring. Ahab was a man who got things done and had a wife who was even fiercer than he was. Unfortunately for Israel, Ahab led them in the wrong direction. He forsook God and led the people to worship Baal. 

1 Kings 16:30 tells us that Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. He wasn’t a lazy man, and the world looked at him as a strong leader. In reality, he was a weak man. Underneath that veneer was a man who was a coward, didn’t take responsibility, and blamed others for his failures. Weak men aren’t the ones who can’t bench press their body weight, grow a beard, or shoot a gun. They are men who are selfish, lead others into sin, and don’t protect the weak. 

Ahab did more to provoke the anger of the Lord than all the kings of Israel. Still, to this day, Ahab is considered the worst king in their history. His wife Jezebel has become a verb for evil and manipulative women. Over the next two weeks, we will look at this man and not only learn what not to do, but also develop a model of a Godly, strong man. One who embraces who God created him to be.

Ahab didn’t have a good role model. His Dad and every previous king of the split kingdom of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and led the people away from worshipping God. Ahab just took it to a whole other level by setting up an altar and temple to Baal, whom his wife worshipped. We could easily blame Jezebel, but as a man and king of Israel, this all fell on him. 

Israel was supposed to worship Yahweh, and if it did, it would be blessed. If it didn’t, it would be judged. To bring in Baal, a god of the weather, was blasphemy. What made Baal so attractive? The worship was all about pleasuring yourself. Many foreign gods required worship at the temple that included sleeping with temple priestesses and other crude acts. Worshipping Yahweh required holiness and adhering to the law. Weak men always look to their own interests and don’t consider the ramifications it might have on other people. 

God didn’t let Ahab get away with it. He brought famine through Elijah, a Baal priest beat down on Mount Carmel, and had him looted by a foreign king. God doesn’t let our wanderings and brazen sin go without consequences. If we are going to forsake God, He is going to try to bring us to repentance. So many men try to forge their own way and celebrate it as the ultimate manliness, when in reality it is all a scam. I read an article today saying Andrew Tate’s lawyers admitted in court papers that all the wealth he showed on social media was completely fake. That’s the picture I get of Ahab. 

Real men don’t do their own thing. Independence and being self-made isn’t only a myth; it is selfish. Real men understand that they were made for more. They take responsibility at home, work, church, and in the community. Godly men do the right thing personally and for others. They embrace the standards God’s Word lays out for them and willingly take on the role they play in their family.

The world needs fewer weak men and more Godly men. The church needs to wage war on weak men, not against those who are struggling or full of fear, but against those men who exude fake manliness when, in reality, they are selfish and sinful. The church needs to celebrate men who are good husbands, fathers, and leaders. For the rest, we need to disciple them into their role as overseers in their home and church.