How to Become Ten Times Better

Daily Devotional – Wednesday, March 29, 2023
And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.
Daniel 1:20 (NKJV)

King Nebuchadnezzar has finally destroyed the kingdom of Judah. To ensure the Jews have no way of rising up again, the king devises a plan. It has to do with the young intelligent and energetic members of the Jewish royal family.

He directs that finest sons of Judah be trained in the knowledge, wisdom and culture of the Babylonians. He even changes the names of some of the youth, to give them a Babylonian identity. Apparently, he wants the Jews to gradually lose their uniqueness as the people of God.

I Will Not Defile Myself

“And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king.” (Daniel 1:5). How refreshing to the young Jews! They have another opportunity to live like royalty in a foreign land, or so it seems.

Well, not with Daniel because he “purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” (Daniel 1:8). Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego join Daniel’s camp.

Superior in Wisdom and Understanding

By God’s favour, the four youth are allowed to follow their preferred simple diet for ten days instead of the delicacies on the king’s table. When they finally come before the king, “in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.” (Daniel 1:20).

To become ten times better, Daniel and his friends had to deny themselves unwholesome food and alcoholic beverages. They did not allow appetite to control them. The quartet denied themselves the goodies and pleasures of the palace in fidelity to the will of God. It was easier and more convenient to feast on the king’s delicacies but they chose to obey God.

Ten Times Better

Daniel and his allies understood what Paul would state many years after. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

The body and minds are intricately connected. What we feed the body affects the mind. What control the mind controls our lives and decisions. If we are to remain faithful to God and overcome Satan’s temptations, we must watch what we allow into both the body and the mind. Can your current choice of diet and beverage make you ten times better in all aspects of life?

Prayer
Lord Jesus, I want to be ten times better like Daniel and his friends. Inculcate in me self-control and self-discipline in my dieting and thinking habits.