Thriving in Babylon

It seems that wherever I go, people are murmuring. If you pay attention, you can hear fear, anxiety, and sometimes anger in their mutterings. Folks everywhere are facing difficult situations and searching for answers. As Christians, we too are finding life coming into sharper focus, and we don’t like what we are seeing. We are realizing how out of step we are with culture, but also with startling clarity how culture sees us. Reactions to Christ-followers, in some cases, have gone from tolerance to an almost militant and seditious response. My question is, do we hang on and survive, bury our heads in the sand, or fight back and attack? Maybe one of those three responses describes you right now.

But what if you could live in such a way that you could thrive and, at the same time, hold all the convictions you have as a Christ follower? Fantasy? No, I believe it is reality. I want to take you back to a time long ago to a world that will surprise us in its similarities to our own. Babylon. The world power at the time. Here is what God ,through the prophet Habakkuk, says about the Babylonians:

“I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people. They will march across the world and conquer other lands. They are notorious for their cruelty, and they do whatever they like.”
Habakkuk 1:6, 7 (NLT)

Not only did God use this godless empire, but his people, who called upon his name, had to live in the midst of such evil and cruelty. How? One such person gives us a roadmap for navigating the culture; his name is Daniel.

Daniel and his three friends had been forced to leave their home and were living in Babylon in  the very heart of that pagan land. You know the story. King Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream and asked his wise men to tell him its contents and interpret it. That didn’t go so well. Daniel chapter 2 tells us that the king was angry and furious, ready to execute them all, including Daniel and his friends. Tough situation to deal with. Arioch, the king’s captain of the guard, came to carry out the sentence of death.

“Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion…”
Daniel 2:14 (ESV)

Wow! The NLT version says, “wisdom and discretion”; the NIV uses “wisdom and tact”; and the Message reads, “wisely and quietly”. Your life is on the line, and that is how you respond? A few verses later, we are told Daniel goes to his three friends and tells them to pray, asking God for mercy and his wisdom. Daniel’s response was wisely measured; however, he did not give up his convictions and beliefs in God. As the story continues, Daniel’s tact allows him to rise to a position of power and authority. He thrives. Despite his position, he and his friends were not exempt from difficulty. They get thrown into a fiery furnace (that’s for another devotional at another time), and Daniel finds himself staring into the face of a ferocious lion.
What if we made our objective for 2026 to respond rather than react? Would it then be possible to respond to the world around us with wisdom and tact? I believe it would.