We hope you enjoy this re-post from September 17, 2014. Be blessed! The Today’s Quote From God Team

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, it is not necessary for us to answer you on this point. 17 If our God Whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up! – Daniel 3:16-18, Amplified Bible (AMP)

The bravery of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego has challenged and inspired untold numbers of people since its incorporation into God’s Word. The willingness to choose death over life in order to stay true to God is immensely admirable, and we find this characteristic so valuable because it is, sadly, so rare. Despite its rarity, the world witnessed a modern-day version of such bravery when Sudanese Christian Meriam Ibrahim, refusing to renounce Christ at the behest of her Muslim government, was sentenced to death. Many weeks after her story became global news in the Spring of 2014, The Lord delivered Meriam from the jaws of death, restored her to her family, and honored both His name and her faith around the world.

At its core the question that Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Ibrahim faced was this: Is God’s name, or is my life, more important? Of course, we know that each of these brave souls chose God’s name. No doubt, we all hope and pray that we would do the same, given the same opportunity. The funny thing is that we DO have the same opportunity, almost every day. True, most of us won’t have to choose between life and death on a regular basis, although some of us may one day face that choice. But almost daily – if not daily – we face some choice, whether big or small, that forces us to choose between honoring God’s name or preserving what we want our lives to be like. For example, what if you feel like The Lord is prompting you to share the Gospel with a total stranger sitting two tables away from you in a restaurant? Do you honor God by obeying, or do you ignore the call because you don’t want to be inconvenienced, or because you are afraid? What if your employer tells you to stop talking about Christ, to remove all Christian references from your work station and your apparel, and to never bring your Bible back to work? Would you obey your employer, or would you be willing to walk away from your income in defense of Christ? What if you are about to wrap up a business deal, but in order to get it done, you have to blatantly break God’s law? Do you take the money, or do you do the right thing? Any of us could face such a choice today. The question is, what would we choose?

The opportunity to be brave for Christ need not be wrapped up in the drama of a life and death decision. It can be (and it usually is) wrapped up in a decision either to honor God or to honor what you want. Is your convenience, comfort, wealth, power, and security more important to you? Or, is God’s name more important? Will others some day be inspired by the story of how you were willing to give up something – maybe everything – for Christ? Or, will they not be inspired because you never did?

May God help us all to love Him more than we love ourselves. And, may God help us to remember that the rewards He grants us in return for our faithfulness are tremendously better than any rewards we can gain by ignoring Him.