A BRAVE TEENAGER

Imagine yourself in Daniel’s position. King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has told you, a Jewish teenager, what you’re going to eat and drink from his table. But there’s a problem: God has said that the food on the menu goes against His law. What would you do?

Some people don’t think teenagers have what it takes to do what’s right in similar situations—where it would cost them to take a stand for God. Daniel, a teenager who was abducted from his home and forced to serve a foreign king, is an example of Paul’s words: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity” (1 TIMOTHY 4:12).

I think Daniel, the young guy who was challenged to stand up to the king in God’s name, must have had people who taught him to make right choices. And it showed, because he “resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine” (DANIEL 1:8).

Because Daniel kept God at the centre of his life, and chose to follow His ways in a place that expected the opposite, God used him and his friends (V.17). In fact, these teenagers were ten times better at their work than anyone else who served the king (V.20). CW