Men and women, boys and girls, are still bowing to the image of peer pressure out on their own Plain of Dura every week in every city of America.

We all have one other world we live in: our public world. Some people call it our public persona. This is the world where someone who doesn't know you privately, personally, or professionally hears your name and has some opinion about you one way or another. So the question becomes: where is integrity rooted? Some people think it's rooted in their public life. They spend all of their time trying to spin their public image. It's not rooted there, however. It's simply revealed there. People who lack integrity will have it revealed publicly.

As we look at the chapters of Daniel, we recognize that the words of Daniel 1:21 ring true today: "Thus Daniel continued...." Daniel continued through a culture unlike his own; one that lost its way. Today, you and I are living in a culture that's losing its way. It's good to know that just as in Daniel's day, God is looking for men and women of integrity to help confront in love a culture that's losing its way and to point it back to him.

Real Christianity is lovely. There is a quality about a Spirit-filled, radiant Christian that draws and attracts others and causes them to enjoy favor with all the people. The truth is that the gospel is not nearly as offensive as some of its proponents!

Men and women, boys and girls, are still bowing to the image of peer pressure out on their own Plain of Dura every week in every city of America.

We all have a private world in which we live; that's the place where nobody comes; alone with our secret thoughts. Our own spouses oftentimes don't know what we're thinking. In our private worlds, it's only you and the Lord, who searches our hearts and knows our anxious thoughts.

In many ways we've become the Babylon of the modern era. We learned our lessons at the feet of Nebuchadnezzar himself. It's little wonder that we've lived to see Bible reading and the display of the Ten Commandments removed from public view and creation science excluded from classroom instruction. None of this is new. It has its roots in Babylon, and thus reveals that the book of Daniel is one of the most relevant books of the Bible in our world today.