Daniel 1:17-21 (ESV)

[17] As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. [18] At the end of the time, when the king had commanded that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. [19] And the king spoke with them, and among all of them none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. [20] And in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom. [21] And Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.

 Jeremiah wrote about the Babylonians, and about how God’s people were to respond to them. He said, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer 29:7). This is exactly what Daniel and his friends did. In order to protect their overseer, they offered a test. “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see” (Daniel 1:12-13). They made their overseer look good. When they were presented to the king, they were found to be “…ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom” (Dan 1:20). As a wise man, Daniel stayed in the service of the king “…until the first year of King Cyrus” (Dan 1:21).

 Daniel and his friends could easily have worked against the system. They could have served as spies. They could have undermined the king’s authority and influence. They could have functioned as subversives, working to bring down the people who destroyed their city. But they didn’t. Following Jeremiah’s instruction, they worked for the welfare of the city into which they had been brought.

 Because of our theology (what we believe about God), and our eschatology (what we believe about the end of the world), we have often assumed that this world was unimportant. “It is all going to burn up anyway” (see 1Pet 3:11-13, and Rev 21:1). But that ignores the fact that in the meantime God made us stewards of his creation. That ignores the fact that while it will all burn one day, we do not know when that will be. It ignores his instructions for how we are to live in the meantime. We are often more interested in the politics of our world than we are in goodness, justice, and righteousness. It is more important that we work for the good of the city, country, and people God has placed around us, than that we work to ensure that the right party remains in office. If God loved the world so much that he sent his son to die for it, does that not suggest that we ought to love the world as well?

 Yes, I know that John wrote, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1Jn 2:15). But John defined what he meant by the world as, “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life” (1Jn 2:16). When he wrote that God “so loved the world” (Jn 3:16) he was referring to something different. He was referring to the people of the world. He was referring to his creation. We should never love “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life,” but we should certainly love the people whom God created in his own image, and the creation he designed for them.

 I fear that in our focus on eternity we have failed to understand Jeremiah’s advice. Daniel was to seek the welfare of Babylon. Babylon, throughout the Bible, is considered the seat of evil. This is where the Tower of Babel was first built, yet Daniel was to seek its welfare. How can we do any less? Is it not through works of creation care, justice, and care for the poor and needy that the love of Christ is most evident in us? Is it not through seeking the welfare of others that we best demonstrate the character of God? Jesus did not say, “There will always be poor, so don’t worry about it.” He did not say, “They are going to die anyway, don’t worry about the sick.” He did not practice avoidance of sinners in order to stay pure. The people he got truly upset with were not the sinners, but the hypocritical religious elite, the church goers. Jesus loved the poor, cared for the sick, and spent time with sinners. Jesus so loved the world − the broken, lost, sinful world − that he gave his life for it.

 God is calling us to love as Jesus loved. He is not calling us to be so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good. He is calling us to follow Daniel’s lead, and seek the welfare of Babylon. What a challenge! May the mind of Christ and the love of the Father be seen in us each day.