SHINE, pt. 5 - Clay Reed

Daniel was taken from his homeland as a young man, enrolled in a foreign university, given a new name, and cut off from everything familiar. He had no control over his circumstances and no guarantee of a future. And yet, from the opening pages of his story to the very last, one thing remained constant: Daniel had an excellent spirit. That spirit was not the product of comfortable conditions. It was the overflow of a soul that kept its eyes fixed on God regardless of what surrounded it. Daniel's excellent spirit showed up in three unmistakable ways. First, he brought extraordinary excellence to everything he did. After years of study in Babylon, he stood before King Nebuchadnezzar and was found ten times better than all the other advisors in the kingdom. Decades later, when enemies tried to find fault in his record, they came up empty after forty years of searching. Second, his excellence was never self-promoting. When God gave him the ability to interpret the king's dream, he immediately pointed all credit to God. He stood firm in his convictions while remaining respectful and humble in his manner. Third, Daniel carried a spirit of hope that refused to be buried by hard circumstances. He believed that Babylon was real but not ultimate, that kings were powerful but not sovereign, and that exile was painful but not permanent. His hope was rooted not in his situation but in the character and faithfulness of God. These same qualities are available to believers today, but they require intentional cultivation. Parents are called to aim beyond behavioral compliance in their children and pursue the spirit behind the obedience, because honor involves the posture of the heart, not just the action of the hands. Every person is called to examine the atmosphere they carry into the rooms they walk into each day. And for those whose spirit has grown heavy with fear, anger, or bitterness, the same God who heard Daniel's prayers is ready to hear ours. The most foundational change of all is the new birth, the moment when a spirit that was dead to God is made alive through faith in Jesus Christ. That is the only foundation on which a truly excellent spirit can be built.