Daniel 6:5 (NIV)

Finally these men said, "We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God."

King Darius had replaced Nebuchadnezzar but Daniel even found favor with Darius and so Daniel was appointed to be one of three chief administrators in the Kingdom. The satraps did not like this and sought to bring him down, however they became frustrated because they could not find any grounds for accusing Daniel of any wrongdoing. Well, these wicked satraps finally figured out what to do: make a law that directly contradicted a command of God. For thirty days, no one in the kingdom could pray to any other Gods except the King. Why did they figure this would work? Because they knew Daniel would not be compromised with his God. Sure enough, they caught Daniel disobeying this new law in the privacy of his own home and that's what got Daniel thrown into the lion's den.

I wish that every Christian were blameless before God. Law abiding, and respectful of authorities. Even of their employers. At the same time, when the laws of man directly contradict the laws of God, there should be no compromise. People get confused about this, thinking that legalized abortion falls into this category. But this is a permissive law, not a forbidding law. It only forbids the state from prosecuting an unborn baby killer. It does not force you to kill babies.

But there are laws that come perilously close to direct contradictions, such as those that could prevent witnessing to a fellow employee, or those that could forbid speaking about God at a school function. Notice that I said could rather than do. These laws are close but they only come to the edge without going over. For example, it is perfectly legal to pray in school, out loud. But the teacher cannot do it as part of the formal school activity. This is no different than requiring an employee to avoid certain activities. Employers have this freedom and right. Imagine that if we required that every employer allowed their employees to do whatever they pleased, then we would take away the employer's freedom to give the employee theirs. This is the nature of freedom. Freedom is not a license to do anything. You are not free to kill someone (except unborn babies).

Freedom means that you are free to do what is right. Now, go exercise that freedom. Go pray, worship, study the bible, witness to your neighbors like Daniel did, even when he was not free to do so.

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