The Daniel Dilemma: How to Stand Firm and Love Well in a Culture of Compromise

by Chris Hodges

We have the privilege of loving others and offering them God’s truth: that we’re all sinful and in need of a Savior, which is exactly why Jesus came to live as a man and die on the cross. His sacrifice makes it possible for us all to find hope in a relationship with a holy God. Amid so many negative, destructive factors at work in our culture, we offer the good news of the gospel and have the tremendous privilege of bringing light and life to everyone around us.

Our worldviews require truth, and if we haven’t based them on God’s Word, the ultimate truth, then our worldviews rely on false and negative contributions of the world.

Culture will continue to be our Enemy’s smokescreen for obscuring truth and confusing God’s people. But if you keep your eyes on the firm ground of God’s truth, deciding what you believe before you’re tested, then you will stand strong no matter how many bow down to the cultural pressure around you.

The Bible tells the truth.

1. We live in a society hostile to faith in God. Daniel

In fact, we don’t even have the right to question God and his ways, including his Word. If we only believe what we like in the Bible but don’t believe what we don’t like, then it’s not the Bible that we trust but ourselves.

Nothing will satisfy us like worshipping God.

Of course, we live in a culture that’s social-media obsessed with personal opinions, comments, likes, and retweets. We’ve become the center of our own little universes, and virtually everything around us reinforces the delusion that we can and should control our own destinies—and offer our two cents on how everyone else is controlling theirs. We seem to think everyone’s opinion matters but that whoever can defend theirs the best or shout the loudest wins. But this obsession is really only another major symptom of the cultural cancer plaguing our society—the sin of pride.

We have to focus on what God thinks. And he’s given us his Word to guide us in knowing what he thinks. If God has already spoken, then we don’t need to form an opinion. We just need to keep pursuing the way, the truth, and the life that can be found only in Jesus.

Some people like to call our age “progressive” and imply that God and his ways are outdated and archaic. But this is the essence of sin in a nutshell: my way instead of God’s way. Whose rules do you live by? Your own? Or heaven’s?

Control your emotions or they will control you. —CHINESE PROVERB

God’s truth is self-evident. It’s not up to us to convince nonbelievers that God’s way is the right way. But we can lovingly engage in conversations in which we seek to understand where they’re coming from and what they’ve been through. We can be a constant source of encouragement in the life of someone who doesn’t know God.

But it’s not okay to call our feelings our truth. God is the only One who has cornered the market on truth. Our emotions, opinions, and desires don’t determine truth. It’s not a subjective commodity to be determined by each individual. God’s eternal truth exists regardless of what we feel or don’t feel.

This is the root issue of the problem with putting our feelings first: they lie. They are not accurate about the things that matter most.

our flesh is directly tied in to our feelings.

just know that feelings cannot be trusted to define truth.

People don’t care what you know; first, they want to know that you care.

It’s important to realize you can accept someone without approving of their views, lifestyle, or behavior. As a parent, I accept my children and love them unconditionally, but I do not always approve of what they say and how they act. Connecting with people, listening and understanding them, before correcting them is paramount to being a person of influence like Daniel.

Culture changes; God doesn’t. We need to follow him, not culture.