Why can’t I?

"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." Daniel 1:8

We are in this world but we do part of it, and we cannot allow ourselves to be influenced by it.

Now imagine Daniel, a young man, arriving at the palace. The normal reaction would be "I will enjoy everything they have here" "I will eat everything, taste everything, live what I have never lived", that would be the normal thought of any human being given an opportunity of privilege to live with important and influential people. But he was not common, his faith was above any wonder this world.

Because he refused to eat the king's feast? It was not because he did not want to eat well, but because the meals consisted of animals condemned by the Jews, and he obeyed, he did not want to go against the law of God and decided not to eat animals considered unclean or even offered to other gods.

Daniel firmly decided, which means, he was strongly resolved, there was no room for discussion, no turning back, and there would be no way to convince him otherwise.

That is, he decided not to be influenced by a new culture, pagan customs, in other words he decided:

- Preserve the identity of God in him (even in a different country and with people who served other gods)

- Stay away from impure things

- Keep the faith and good conscience

- Obey God in all

- And thereby maintain his communion with God

And all this because he lived and walked in the spirit, as I said in the previous text, that is why he had spiritual discernment, he was not deceived by what his eyes were seeing, neither he desired that life of luxury and well-being. His thoughts never fled his goal, he never forgot who he was and who he belonged to.

We must be careful, because sometimes if we are not alert, thoughts like these come, "What's wrong with doing this? There is nothing bad about it", "There is no harm in it, this is normal". These are sneaky little things that want to divert our focus and when we least expect it, we are contaminated.

They are the bad things that come disguised as good. They are harmful, but the first impression is that they are innocent, but  in time they bring disastrous consequences.