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

by Chris Hodges

Throughout the Bible three false gods are mentioned repeatedly. There’s the spirit of mammon, the god of possessions and greed. His worshippers’ motto could have been “never enough.” The same mind-set manifests itself today in the way many people pursue riches, assuming this will make them happy. Mammon always tries to squeeze into our hearts in place of God (Matt. 6:4). It’s okay to have money—as long as money doesn’t have you. The next is Baal, a god of power and the root of all pride (Judg. 2:11, 10:10; 1 Kings 18:18; Jer. 2:23; Hos. 2:17). He’s all about self-achievement and self-sufficiency. Remember those crazy fun-house mirrors (or now the apps) that make you look like a circus strongman? Baal basically reflects this kind of image back at his worshippers, saying, “You don’t need God! You’re strong enough to control it all yourself.” We see this same attitude today in the way we assume we can control our lives if we stay busy. It’s the driving force behind workaholism and our out-of-control schedules. We drive too fast because we feel like we’re perpetually late and must catch up any way we can. We eat in our cars while returning calls and scanning e-mails and texts. At work we’re thinking we need to be at home, and at home we’re thinking we need to be at work. So many of us spend minutes a day with our children and spouses, even less time with God, and work nine or ten hour days, which illustrates the spirit of Baal is alive and well in the twenty-first century! Fin...