Journey--Remarkable - God made you to be remarkable (Daniel)
Well friend, this journey with Jesus is a wild one! We’ve learned how to get on the path God has for us and how He uses the journey to prune and reshape us. He uses each and every moment to equip us and to build our endurance–
Hebrews 12:1 | Therefore… let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race (or the journey) God has set before us.
Last week, we looked at the fourth and final garden, located in Heaven where the earthly journey of God’s followers ends. That final garden has reminded us that eternity is coming. It makes the need to “go” an urgent one!
God’s followers can be sure that part of their journey – the adventure God has for them – involves “going” or sharing the hope of Jesus with others. After all, sharing the hope of Jesus with others was commanded long ago–
Matthew 28:19-20 | Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
But as we said weeks ago, “going” isn’t just a marked segment of your path. It isn’t where you arrive 6 days, 6 months, or 6 years into your journey. Going IS the journey. Each and every step of our adventure is riddled with conversations and choices that are opportunities to make God known to others. The very reason God invited you to “come” follow Him and join the journey is so you could go share Him with others. Titus says it this way–
Titus 2:14 | He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.
Through the journey, God makes you a new creation that is no longer marked by your sin, but is instead marked as His follower who is made in His image. He does this so that our good deeds– the remarkable things we do – would leave a mark on the world – pointing others to Him.
You are on this journey because God made you for more – He made you to be remarkable. Something remarkable is unusual, exceptional, interesting, or excellent. Remarkable things don’t blend in – they stand out and get your attention.
As citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20), God’s people are temporary residents of this world (1st Peter 2:11) living as imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1) in a foreign land. This should make us noticeably different from others, just like it did Daniel.
Daniel was one of the young men from Judah chosen to live in Babylon. He was expected to live like a Babylonian would (Daniel 1:3-4) - learning as they would, eating as they would, and even worshiping what they would. King Nebuchadnezzar tried to conform Daniel and the other Jewish boys to Baylonian culture and customs, but Daniel was committed to living God’s way (Daniel 1:8). Daniel wasn’t afraid to be remarkable, even if it meant he didn’t fit in with others.
Because of His commitment to the Lord, God gives Daniel remarkable wisdom and the ability to understand dreams (Daniel 1:17). The Lord also made Daniel more capable than others (Daniel 6:3) and everyone noticed.
Eventually, Daniel’s remarkable faith and remarkable abilities are challenged with a law designed just to trip up Daniel, so perhaps he will finally conform and be just like everyone else. If not, his adversaries are glad that he will finally be out of the picture.
Daniel 6:6-9 | So the administrators and high officers went to the king and said, “Long live King Darius! We are all in agreement—we administrators, officials, high officers, advisers, and governors—that the king should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days any person who prays to anyone, divine or human—except to you, Your Majesty—will be thrown into the den of lions. And now, Your Majesty, issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, an official law of the Medes and Persians that cannot be revoked.” So King Darius signed the law.
You see, people don’t like when others are remarkable. Jesus tells us that the world will hate and persecute us, like it did Him, because we are in it, but not of it (John 15:18-20). Daniel was no exception. Despite the schemes of the king’s administrators, Daniel refuses to conform to the world or blend in.
Daniel 6:10 | But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.
The administrators are at Daniel’s home to catch him in the act (Daniel 6:11) and as a result, he is sentenced to the lion’s den (Daniel 6:16).
We learn from Daniel’s example that as God’s followers, we should not be afraid to look different or even to seem CRAZY to the people of this world. God has made us to be remarkable – spectacles that stand out and don’t conform to the society and culture of our day. When we stand out for our commitment to Him, God might bring along opportunities to share why we are different – for the Good News of Jesus to be made known to others.
Because Daniel was faithful, the Good News of the one true God is proclaimed throughout not only Babylon, but the entire world (Daniel 6:25-27).
If you are on this journey with Jesus, God has made you to be remarkable – to stand out as unusual in a sinful, hopeless world. Don’t be afraid to stand strong, even when being different causes you to not fit in or to be persecuted. When people exclude or persecute you, remember that it is because they noticed you are remarkable. Use it as an opportunity to boldly make Jesus known so that even your persecutors might choose to follow Jesus.
What does it mean to be remarkable in a sinful and hopeless world?
Why does God command His followers to be remarkable, or to look different than the world?
In what ways, if any, do you stand out or look different because of your faith?
Are you ever afraid of being remarkable? When? Why?
How can God use followers who aren’t afraid to be remarkable?