If I were to title today’s reading, in Daniel 1, it might be something like “Sweat the Small Stuff”.

It is interesting - as I read Daniel chapter 1, because there is a lot of effort being made to explain why Daniel and his three friends resisted the cultural traditions that king Nebuchadnezzar was pushing on them.  maybe I am thinking to simplistically, but it seems that the most obvious reason for this would be that they all knew that giving into the little things would eventually lead to a full assimilation into Babylonian culture and foregoing their faith and trust in God.

I don’t know about you, but usually when I am giving into sin or to temptation, it starts with the small things.  I’ll give in a little bit in one spot, and then the next, and eventually I look up and wonder how I got there. That’s the way sin tends to integrate into our lives.  King Nebuchadnezzar probably understood this, and that’s why he was integrating all of these exiles into his culture. Get them eating and drinking and conducting themselves as Babylonians, and before long, they will consider themselves Babylonians. We tend to become a product of the things we see and do.

So here in chapter 1, we see the king doing this, but we also see Daniel and his three friends resisting that cultural integration.  I think it’s reasonable to think that Daniel understood that giving up his Jewish practices would also cause him to start forgetting God.  When I’m not praying regularly, when I’m not reading scripture regularly, and when I get disconnected from Christian fellowship, I certainly end up further from God.  I think Daniel simply understood this principle.  So, he resisted the order to integrate into this culture in order to hang onto his connection with God.

This reminds us of a very important lesson. It is the idea that the small things matter, and this idea cuts both ways.  if we give in a little here, and we give in a little there, eventually we end up in the middle of nowhere, adrift, lost.  Likewise, when we are faithful in our spiritual disciplines, when we are praying, applying God‘s wisdom in our lives, even in the smallest places, reading God‘s word, and in fellowship with other believers, there is a momentum that builds.

Today, I will win in the small things, the seemingly insignificant moments, in order to create momentum in my spiritual life.