Marching to a Different Drummer

"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
     So it might not be obvious by the title, but today I wanted to write about Daniel. I actually took the title "Marching to a Different Drummer" from Ravi Zacharias' podcast series. Interestingly, Ravi never really talks at all about marching or drumming. The basic idea is that Daniel wasn't following the patterns or "beat" of this world, but was following God.
     Almost everyone knows the story of Daniel in the lion's den. Daniel refuses to bow to the statue of the king, so the king sentences Daniel to death in the lion's den. Interestingly, the king didn't want to kill Daniel, but he was tricked by his advisers. The king liked Daniel and respected Daniel, because he saw how Daniel lived his life. While there is much to learn from the story of the lion's den, today I want to focus on the beginning of Daniel's life in Babylon.
     At a point in Daniel's life, Jerusalem was captured by the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. The king chose the best young men (including Daniel) from Jerusalem in order to train them to enter the king's service. In other words, Nebuchadnezzar want to change the ideology of the Israelites by instructing the best young men in a new worldview. The king knew that these young men would influence the rest of the Israelites, so the king made sure that the young men influenced them in the king's favor.
     While training the young men, the king orders that they be fed good food and wine. Daniel makes a very interesting request to the chief official. He asks that he can have another diet, not consisting of any of the choice foods the king provided. The official gets worried that if Daniel partakes in this new diet, he will not be as strong as the other men, and the king will blame the official for Daniel's weakness. Daniel assures the official that he will take the blame if Daniel indeed becomes weak from the vegetable diet. After a while, it turns out that Daniel and his friends look the most nourished of the young men. Thus, the king requires that all the men partake in the diet that Daniel had.
     So what are we supposed to learn from this? Small choices can make a big difference. When Daniel was offered the choice foods, partaking in them was not really a sin. However, Daniel knew that if he enjoyed the king's food, he would eventually accept everything the king offered him. Daniel knew that he would get comfortable living a lifestyle without God. In the seemingly insignificant choice to refrain from eating the king's foods, Daniel was setting himself up to become a great man of God.
     Have you ever seen a chip commercial where they say "betcha can't eat just one?" I'm sure you have. Many of us know from experience that it is indeed hard to only eat one chip. Once you taste the first chip, you want to enjoy more chips. Sin is very similar in this regard. If we commit a small sin, we taste the pleasure that sin offers. We then easily fall into bigger and bigger sins, because we've already tasted what sin has to offer. Daniel understood this concept, so he chose not to even partake in a small defilement of his body.
     How was Daniel able to resist such tempting food? Everyone loves good food, so it must have been hard for Daniel to reject the choice foods offered to him. However, Daniel knew that the food would only fill him up so much. The food could only satisfy his physical needs. Daniel chose not to eat this food because it would rob him of a chance to let God fill him up. Daniel chose God over the choice foods, because He knew that God could fill him up where it mattered most; in his spirit. Daniel depended on God for his source of fulfillment, not worldly things like food. The chief official was concerned with Daniel's physical fulfillment, but Daniel was rightly concerned with his spiritual fulfillment.
     Notice what happened when Daniel made a small choice not to eat the choice foods; everyone else now had to change their diet. The king's plan was to change Daniel, but Daniel ended up changing the king's plan. Think again to the lion's den. Do you think Daniel suddenly was able to show such great faith when he refused to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's statue? No. Daniel made small choices not to let the world change him so that he could change the world. If we make small choices for God, He will be our fulfillment, and will use us to change the world.
-Smart