Lord, give me vegetables

Daniel and his three friends were almost perfect specimens of the human race. They had intelligence, charm, good looks, and respect. They were from the royal families of Israel, quick to learn, without any physical defect, and qualified to serve in the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, where they were chosen to learn the language and literature of the Babylonians. After three years of training, they were to enter the King's service.

What an honor.

Now, I guess you could say that Daniel, Hananiah, Meshael, and Azariah (whose names were changed to Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) were good boys. From looking at their character traits and talents and whatnot, you could probably guess that they had grown up in good homes, and were taught the right things by their parents. And furthermore, they had probably lived with their family all the years up till this point in their lives. They left home with a firm foundation under their belt so to speak. And that foundation would be tested.

As soon as they walked into Babylon, their training began. And during the training, they were to be fed well….royal food and wine all around right?! - - - "But Daniel resolved NOT to defile himself with the royal food and wine" (Daniel 1:8a) - - - Wait , what? Daniel, being such an incredible individual that the king chose him over many others, has come to this absolutely amazing kingdom and simply refuses to eat their choice meats and wine? Doesn't sound like a big deal to me! Honestly, I am not sure why Daniel chose not to consume this food and drink. Perhaps it was because in Israel this kind of food was considered unclean, or that the food He was given in Babylon was sacrificed to idols first. Whatever the case, Daniel believed that the food and drink was defiling and therefore refused to eat it, and led his three friends to do the same. He had the official in charge of him and his friends bring them nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink and they became more healthy and well-nourished than all the other young men there. They stood their ground on something that they could've easily said, "oh, it's no big deal, nobody would know and it's just food."

And that brings me to….. yup, us college students. :)

Many of us college students were raised on Christian principles, taught right from wrong from our parents, encouraged to read the Bible daily, hung around friends who held the same conservative views as we did, etc. And then came - COLLEGE. We left home. And home doesn't even have to mean our actual houses. We left the familiarity of our neighborhoods, we left the activities where all our friends gathered, we left our families (i.e. some accountability) , we left what we had relied on all our lives to be there for us. And went to a new place to learn. Sounds like Daniel and his friends, right?

As soon as we step foot in the campus, we are immediately bombarded with stuff people think we should do, be involved in, or accept as fact. And college makes them sound like not a big deal and no one has to know and your life is all about you and on and on and on. But like Daniel, we need to be resolved not to defile ourselves with the ways of this world, even the most minute ways that we don't think will affect us. Because it's not what we do that matters, it's who we are living for, and the direction we travel because of who the the main influence is in our lives. We must stand FIRM grounded in the word of God and surround ourselves with those who will look out for us. We need to stay away from the "choice food and wine" that the world thinks is better for us but is not.

Like Daniel, I say, "Give me vegetables!" :-)