One of the many inspiring books of the Bible is the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. Daniel was part of Jewish nobility and one of the few who still honored God at the time of Babylonian conquest of Israel; the rest were worshiping false idols of the surrounding religions. Many of us will remember Daniel for his story of being in the lion's den, but that was late in his life, he was an old man by then; the earlier parts of his life were just as filled with the testimony of God as was the lion's den. The reason Daniel is so inspiring is because he is a prime example of striving after God's own heart in a place that does not honor God as we are called to do. I want to challenge you to live as if in exile, just like Daniel did.

In 605 B.C. Daniel was taken from the land of Israel and selected to serve in the multi-cultural court of King Nebuchadnezzar to appease the Hebraic captives in Babylon. One of his first challenges was just in this fact of being captive, Daniel could have cursed God and turned to idols for the plight of being taken from his home, but no, Daniel stayed faithful to God to the end of his days. We also see early in his captivity is his faithfulness to the full content of the Jewish Law, to eat only foods that were allowed and abstaining from the fine meats and wines of the king's table that were offered to him and his peers in the Babylonian court.

This translates to today, not necessarily by what we eat but the other things we consume like various forms of media. This includes the TV we watch, music we listen -- even the memes we read! If we fill our minds with the content of the secular lifestyle, we will eventually become like the secular life. Just as Daniel abstained from the unclean food of Nebuchadnezzar's table (Daniel 1:9) we need to abstain from the unclean media that surrounds us; television that advocates pre-marital sex, drinking, drugs, violence and other forms of sin, music that elevates partying and fleeting un-commital love, or even memes that use foul language and poke fun at another person's expense should all be things we purge from our daily lives.

I love the book of Daniel because he lived in a place and time where the worshiping of god(s), or worship God, was a distinction not of just religion like today, but was as much a part of life as language you spoke or your status in life and Daniel remained faithful to God through it all. I will be the first to admit I do not live like Daniel as much as I wish I did, but I can strive to live in exile. The question now is: will you strive to live in exile to0?