DARE TO BE DIFFERENT

Suja Abraham (A.B.A)

 

A long time ago when the children of God were living in the land of Israel, they began to disobey God. They stopped praying to God, and started worshipping idols. They did many things that made God very angry with them. So God decided to punish them. He sent Nebuchadnezzar, the powerful king of Babylon to Israel. This king came with his army and burnt up the land and took the Israelites as his prisoners. He took them back with him to Babylon and made them work there like slaves.

 

One day king Nebuchadnezzar built a huge golden statue of himself.  All the people could even see it from far off because this statue was like a very tall building. Then he gave the command that everybody should bow down and worship this statue. Everyone obeyed him. They were all afraid of him so they bowed down and prayed to his statue. Even the children of Israel whom he had brought as slaves did this sinful thing.

 

But there were three Israelite boys who did not obey the king in this matter. They were obedient and faithful to their God. The God of Israel had told them never to worship idols, but to worship only the  true and living God. They knew that their God was the king of this whole world and that He was more powerful than the king of Babylon. So they were not afraid of the kings order.

When the king heard about the disobedience of these three boys, he immediately called for them. He asked then why they were not bowing down to his golden statue. They said, “We worship a living God who made the heaven and earth. That's why we will never bow down or worship a statue.”

 

“Oh, I see!”, said the king who was very angry by now. He took them to a  hot, fiery furnace. “I am going to give you one last chance to bow down and worship my statue. If you don't, I will have you thrown into this fire and burnt alive”, he threatened.

On hearing this, the three boys, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (for that were their names) very boldly looked into the kings face and said, “O king, our God whom we worship is so powerful that He is able to save us from this fire. But even if He does not save us, we will still obey only Him and will not bow down and worship your statue.”

 

The king fumed. He went into a fit of rage. “Heat up the fire some more!” , he commanded his officers. They hurried to obey him. “More!” More!” Heat it again!”, he kept shouting angrily at them. The fire in the furnace was now seven times hotter than it had been at first.

“Enough! Now tie up these disobedient boys and throw them in”.

Quickly his strongest soldiers rushed forward and grabbed the three boys. They tied them up hand and foot very tightly with strong ropes. Then they dragged them to the furnace, lifted them up and threw then into it. As soon as the boys were thrown into the fire, these strong soldiers  who threw them in got burnt by the terrible heat and flames coming out from the furnace that they fell down there and died!

 

After the boys landed in the middle of the fire, the kings anger began to cool. He stood  staring into the fire, but very quickly his satisfaction turned to surprise... and then

to great fear and disbelief. He began to tremble. “ What is this I am seeing? Come, come quickly and look! ”, he called to his officers. They came closer and stared into the fire. “Did we not throw three boys into the fire?”. “Yes. O, King”, they replied. “Look! I now see four, and one of them looks like and angel of God ! And see they are all untied, and walking around freely in the fire!”

 

Then the king cried out loudly in a most fearful voice, “ Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out”. The three boys stepped out of the furnace looking as smart and bold as they did before. The king came closer to them. “Am I imagining things?” He reached out and touched them in disbelief. No, this wasn't a dream at all. Here were the three boys, unhurt and looking well. Even their clothes were not burnt. The king sniffed, “Why! there is  not even the 'smell' of fire on you!!”

 

Hey, Kids, what an astounding miracle! What a God is this, who delivers from the middle of a burning fire ! What a God is this, whom even the fire is afraid of, and gives up its power and heat in His presence!

How was that possible? Surely it is because He is the creator. He created all things. He made the fire, and the fire must surely obey its Creator....

 

And so the story goes, that Gods name was praised by all in that land, even the proud king Nebuchadnezzar, because three young boys decided to stand up for their God...and to keep standing boldly for what they knew was the right thing to do.

 

Do we boldly stand up for what we believe is right? Or do we try to copy our friends and do everything they do...just because we are ashamed to be different?Often we find ourselves trying to copy their lifestyles, fashions and speech. In our hearts we know its not right, but we would rather not stand alone. We would rather not be teased by them or have them think we are not cool. And so we find ourselves vainly boasting, using bad words and dressing up as...beggars (!!) We are children of the King. Should we not dress as princes.. and speak the language of the court?

 

It's OK to be different. It's OK to stand out. It really doesn't matter what your friends think of you, because ten years from now, which of these friends will really be there for you? You would all have gone your separate ways by then.

There will be only one person who hasn't left you behind – the Lord Jesus. He is the only One who will actually stick with you to the end. So don't be ashamed of Him now. If you are ashamed of Him now, He will be ashamed of you in the end.

 

Make Him proud. Do what is right. Don't make any adjustments with this world. Stand up for Him, and who knows - your friends may want to be like 'you'. They may come to know your living God because of you.