The television airwaves have recently been inundated with a variety of new game shows. One of the latest is entitled �Identity.� The object of the game is to try to match up 12 people with the correct identities. In order to create a challenge, the individuals whose identities are in question often don't look like who they really are; there may be a grandparent who looks much too young to have adult children or a former criminal who looks much too nice to be a felon. They are trying to make it hard for people to identify them. Here�s a question�how hard is it for people to identify us? If a co-worker was asked to name Christians who worked in the office, would your name be on the list? If a classmate was asked about students who had faith, would your face come to mind? When the Babylonians conquered Judah and took the Jews captive, there were a few young men who didn�t blend in to their new surroundings. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were given a new home and new names: Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were taken from the Israelite royal family and put in the King�s palace. They were stripped of their God-honoring Hebrew names and fitted with new names which glorified pagan gods. Every effort was made for these men to be assimilated into Babylonian culture, yet those efforts failed. These four men could easily be identified. Why?
They never compromised identity as followers of God. More than once, the King asked them to exchange their true identity for a new one, and they refused each time. When everyone else bowed down to a golden image, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood up. When the king issued a decree that worship to the one true God was against the law, Daniel got on his knees to pray. They did not try to hide their faith � they displayed it. Both times, jealous co-workers were anxious to report them. Both times, these men faced punishment. Both times, they were spared and God was glorified.
It can be difficult to take a stand on the job when everyone else is bowing to the idol of materialism. There is constant pressure to worship the money you can make rather than the God you should serve. We�ll often have co-workers in our lives that are anxious to step on us on their way to the top. Yet, if we stay true to our Christian identity, God can do amazing things. Do you know the endings to both of these stories? After Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were delivered from death, the king ordered for all who spoke against God to be torn limb from limb and their houses destroyed (4:29)! After Daniel�s time in the Lion�s Den, Darius ordered the entire kingdom to fear God. If we remain true to God, He will be true to us. What is your identity?