EXPOSITION:

Christians are hard pressed on every side to deny God more especially in this contemporary world. From our scripture we read in Daniel 3:13-17, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were pressured to deny God but they chose to be faithful regardless of the consequences. The terror of the furnace had no effect on their minds to induce them to alter the resolution they had taken nor change their purpose to serve God.

Most often, Christians give excuses which sound sensible to them to deny God when they are hard pressed. If the three friends had given up, never again could they talk about the power of God above all other gods.

In Revelation 2:10, the Bible says that when we are tempted and put into prison by the devil for ten days, we must be faithful unto death and he will give us crown of life. In the Bible, ten days also refers to a brief time or period (Gen. 24:55, Dan. 1:12, Acts 25:6), so by implication the devil may cause us to suffer but we are to see it as a brief time. What excuses do you use for not standing for God in those brief times of suffering?

LIFE APPLICATION

We should be faithful to serve God whether He intervenes on our behalf or not. Jesus never said that by being faithful to Him, we will avoid troubles, suffering and persecution. It is only when we remain faithful then will our faith prove to be genuine. We remain faithful by keeping our eyes on Christ and on what He promises us now and in the future. Our sufferings and trials are not worth compared to our eternal reward (Rom. 8:18).