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.

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.

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.

We warn our children and grandchildren about peer pressure. We want them to say no to the vices of the world: drinking, drugs, and other destructive behaviors. But as we move from childhood to adulthood, we find the peer pressure changes. Daniel 3:2 notes "the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces" were there. I'm sure more than one of them thought they needed to keep their job with all of its benefits. Not much has changed in two-and-a-half millennia.

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!