Daniel’s Secrets – Daniel 1

In Romania, it was common practice, when you rented an apartment or house or bought an apartment or house, you signed two contracts with the owner or seller. One contract was for the amount of money you actually spend and the second was for the benefit of the owner or seller, for a lower amount, so the owner or seller could pass less in taxes. This practice is so widely practiced that even lawyers assume you are going to do it.

When we first moved to Romania, we rented an apartment and negotiated hard with the owner on that point. He wanted us to sign two contracts and we refused. Eventually, we paid, I think, $60 / mo. more in rent just so we would not have to sign two contracts. But, we had to apply for our visas to stay in the country every six months, which meant we had to negotiate our contract for our apartment, every six months.

After the third time, I was tired of that hassle and realized that my wife and I, with some help, could buy an apartment. Once the money was wired to us from the US, we went to a lawyer, with a  Romanian friend who could speak English, and we started signing the paperwork to buy the apartment. Then the second contract was set in front of us. For a second, the thought went through my mind – “If I sign this contract this one time, I won’t have to be put in this situation ever again.” And I signed it.

There was some other paperwork that was not completed at that time; I don’t remember what it was or why. But when Rachel and I got back home, we talked about that second contract and Rachel said, “That’s not right. We can’t do that. It’s lying.” I woke up in the middle of the night with my conscience bothering me and we went back to the lawyer the next day and said, “We’ve got to tear up that second contract. We are not going to sign a false statement.” The lawyer tried to persuade us: “Nobody will know.” “God will know,” we said.

If we were going to be trying to convert people to the gospel, we had to live the gospel first in our own lives. I failed the test at first, but with Rachel’s support and encouragement (and we could have lost the apartment and that would have put us into a serious bind) but we eventually made the right decision.

Integrity is making the right decision when no one is watching. Let’s take a look at the man named Daniel…

In Daniel 1:5, the text says that the king ordered these men to be served “the king’s choice food and wine which he drank.”

But notice in verse 8 that “Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself.…”

These men were in a tight situation. There could have been a problem with them refusing to eat the king’s meat. Many times we sin because we find ourselves in situations that are out of the ordinary. These men were in a foreign land. They were separated from their families, from their priests, from their people, from their temple. But in spite of this situation, they still had the goal of staying faithful to God.

So in spite of the people these men were around, they still did not sin.

Let us make up our minds to stay faithful to God and have the courage to follow through. If we do, God will be with us and bless us.

–A preacher