“But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” (Daniel 3:18)
This is the response of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to King Nebuchadnezzar when they refused to bow before the king’s golden image. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were Jewish youth that had been taken into Babylonia captivity and were selected to be taught the teachings and language of the Chaldeans. (Daniel 1:3,4) They had been promoted over the affairs of Babylon at Daniel’s request when Daniel was made ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon when he had interpreted the king’s dream. (Daniel 2:48,49) But then certain Chaldeans reported to the king that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to the golden image.
God’s people continue to defy authorities who demand we worship idols. They suffer greatly in some countries. But in the more civilized and democratic countries, we are subtly made to worship idols that are not as concrete. We unknowingly give our time, effort and even money to mammon. Mammon has been translated riches, but it means even more. Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) In this Scripture Jesus has given mammon the status of a deity whom we can choose to serve instead of God. In its most basic description, mammon is anything that takes away from God. Biblically, it’s the lust that consumes the world. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” (1John 2:16-17)
We may say we don’t worship riches nor want power, but everyday we’re inundated with messages from media of all kinds flashing things we should have and which are easily obtainable, that promote self to the point that we come to believe we deserve the best. And if we can’t have those things we are inferior. The message is so fine, we may miss its intention, but it doesn’t miss our emotions. And we find ourselves desiring all the things that make us smart, chic, beautiful, young, noticeable, likeable and you name it, everything the flesh desires. Our children see this and think it’s normal to want these things with name brands at any cost. I am shocked to see women I know spend hundreds of dollars on a simple house dress that one can get for ten times less at a discount store. To my eye, I don’t see the difference, especially if one’s going to wear it to wash, sweep, mop and wax floors and dust and wax furniture. Of course, these women who do wear $300 house dresses have someone else do their housework which they consider beneath them. Is there such snobbery in our world today? You betcha.
Who doesn’t want to live a king or queen? But we mistake these things to living like actual kings and queens. I think of the royals of England. They certainly seem to live a life of privilege, but now that their personal lives have been exposed, we see them living in a prison of protocols and servitude to their image and existence. Prince Harry’s abdication of royal status actually has freed him from that bondage.
Those who bow to mammon find themselves in a similar bondage. They are constantly seeking something else to elevate their status, some to be the trendsetter and others to keeping up with it. To be part of this is vicious and disastrous. Choosing God places our desires on eternal things, not temporal material things. And yes, it’s not esteemed in the world, so immediately we are seen as naïve, stupid and gullible. The world admires and respects the virtues of Christianity but wants nothing to do with the One Who is virtue, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellence and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8) Jesus is diligence, moral excellence, and knowledge. (2Peter 1:5) The world tries to imitate these virtues but is unable without Jesus. Their imitation is a caricature of the true virtue of Jesus which results in deceived morals, beliefs and existence.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego responded to the threat of being put in a burning furnace with the words, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.” (Daniel 3:17) That should be our trust and faithfulness in our God Who will never fail us. Although most of us won’t face a fiery furnace as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego or the persecution like our brethren in restrictive countries, our negligible disdain by the world will not hurt us but on the contrary brand us as true followers of God.
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