I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4: 13, NKJV
Dear Lord, as we look to You for strength, help us to know that with You, we are a majority.
Perhaps the way I will share this promise today is quite different to the way you have looked at it, or heard it explained in the past. Tomorrow we will look at it solely in its context.
The media seems to have full control over our way of thinking, dressing, eating; over our living on a whole. You have to be a certain size, dress a certain way, have a certain look, to merit the “well done” of our society. It is not the “in thing” to show your gray hair, your wrinkles need to be “Botoxed,” and if you are over fifty, you are put on “time-out.” What is really pitiful is that many in our society feel that they have to go along with the status quo. They feel powerless to take a stand. I say an emphatic no! People need to dare to be different. We need to know that it is our God-given right to be different! We do not have to play the look-alike, smell-alike, act-alike, game. We can be anything we want to be because “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Yes, it takes strength to be different; strength of character! Christ will provide it.
Daniel and his three friends dared to be different. they said “we will eat differently, because we believe that our diet is much healthier than the official diet.” Daniel said, I will continue to pray to my God three times a day, with my windows open and with my face toward the temple in Jerusalem, because this is the lifestyle I have chosen. His three friends said, we will not bow down to idols, that is against our belief system. And even though we have to stand alone, we will, because this is what we believe. And “[we] can do all things through Christ which strengthens [us].” They needed divine strength to take these stands. It is not easy to stand alone, but with Christ it is possible, because He provides the strength!
I am not talking about being different just to be different. I am talking about a difference that is based on “Thus saith the Lord;” a difference that has its foundation on solid ground. It has been tried and proven and has stood the test of time. I am referring to a difference that lifts you up and takes you to a higher level, and is a blessing to all who are influenced by it.
Things may not always work out the way they did for Daniel and his three friends. Sometimes being different can be costly; many have paid the price of being different with the loss of a job, family and friends, and even their lives. Stephen spoke out against the religious leaders of his time, and paid with his life.
But the words of Daniel’s three friends shed some light on the inner-strength that enables us to do all things through Christ: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning firey furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image that you have set up” (Daniel 3: 16-18). The principles by which they lived were worth dying for. “If God delivers us, fine! If He does not, we are standing firm on what we believe.”
“[We] can do all things through Christ,” when we live our lives within His will.