0264. Daniel Was a Man with Unsullied Record

Daniel Was a Man with Unsullied Record

"Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against (Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him" (Dan_6:4).

It is said of Daniel "an excellent spirit was in him." His blameless and spotless life was due to this fact. He was without fault, because he had God in him. He knew God, walked with God, talked with God, obeyed God.

The supreme need of the church, is men of the Daniel type. The name of God is blasphemed everywhere because those who carry His name upon their lips, do not carry His life within their hearts.

There is but one way by which we can adorn the Gospel of Christ. That one way is by living the Gospel. An unfaithful Christian can preach the Gospel, but he never adorns it.

Daniel possessed that "pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father" which knows a life "unspotted from the world."

1. His moral life was above reproach. In early youth he had kept his body under, and brought it into subjection, and in his maturer years he did not swerve from holiness in act and deed.

2. Daniel’s business life was above reproach. He was honest, thorough and true. Some may debate the question as to whether honesty is the best policy, but Daniel never debated it. It was not a question of policy with Daniel at all, it was a question of honor and a question of truth, which proved to be the best policy.

Illustration: When a judge had observed how a struggling and impoverished carpenter had refused to do any shoddy work in the building of a fence around his home, he used his influence and secured for the same man the job of building the County Court House.

The clerk who was reproved and fired because he, in honor, told a customer that a certain piece of silk had a flaw, afterward became the owner of the store.

Of course it pays; but, whether it pays or whether it doesn’t pay, it is right to be honest and true.

3. Daniel’s political life was above reproach. He was preferred above all the presidents by the king. Into his hand the affairs of the kingdom were placed.

Daniel had not entered politics with the hope of obtaining some political plum; he had been thrust into politics, because of his unquestioned worth. He never sought the place, the place sought him.

Daniel never used his position of power to bring profit into his own hands. He did not stoop to unseemly action, and court favor by placing in office, under his patronage men who were unfit and unworthy of trust. This fidelity to his trust and refusal to bestow unmerited favor, placed Daniel under the hatred of political antagonists. These men sought his downfall: but they could discover no fault or flaw in his ministrations.

Daniel stood clean above the touch of these earthly critics–he also stood approved of God. "For as much as before God, innocency was found in him."

Many a man can pass muster before the world, who would fall under the all-seeing eye of God; but Daniel stood accepted before the court of Heaven.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR