Feet to the fire

Do I have the guts to stand firmly in my convictions and principles when the going gets tough? Do you? Do we even know if we would or could, should the occasion arise? One thing is most likely certain about all of us—we would like to think we would, right? What if the going didn’t just get tough, but perhaps a life-threatening situation whereby if we stood our ground, we would surely die as a result, but if we caved in, we would live? The answer to that is the “tell” about just how strong we are, or aren’t, about our convictions and principles. Let’s toss in a word switch here and substitute the word faith for convictions and principles and ask the same questions of ourselves.

If we sneak a peek into the Old Testament book of Daniel, we’ll note that there were three dudes who faced those same questions in their lives. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were offered the opportunity to life if they would abandon their faith in God and worship the ghastly idol King Nebuchadnezzar had built of himself (and ordered all in his kingdom to worship). They refused, and the King, angry to the extreme, ordered them tossed into a fiery pit. The pit was so hot that the Kings soldiers who tossed them in were disintegrated by the extreme heat as they followed the Kings orders.

The King had a problem on his hands, however. The three dudes didn’t perish in the extreme heat. They survived, and when the heat eventually died down, there they were, alive and kicking, none the worse for wear. Obviously, old Nebuchadnezzar was, well, astonished, and couldn’t quite understand. Once it dawned on him that God had spared the dudes, he acknowledged the error in his ways and declared that their God, our God, was the one true God.

Those three dudes—their feet were put to the fire, and they didn’t cave in. They didn’t waver in their convictions and principles. Their faith never wavered while they faced eminent death by roasting. They had no trouble answering the above questions in the manner we would like to think we would answer, were we to be faced with them. They didn’t dilly-dally around deciding. I’m pretty sure they may have simply said something like, “Well, it looks like we’re toast.” I’m not so sure many of us would jump on it that quick if our feet were held to the fire. I’m also guessing that our capitulation regarding our faith is in evidence during routine days as well, perhaps more than we may realize.