So you’ve got all these sensible friends who think you’re crazy. You don’t really talk about it openly, but everyone’s aware of the fact that you have an invisible Friend. And what’s more, this invisible Friend isn’t just-a-friend, He’s also you’re Master. It makes you seem crazy (e.g. Acts 26:24).

So what can you do?

Offer them The Daniel Deal.

Have a frank conversation with your sensible friends, and make them the following offer:

  1. You will read their literature and learn their language for 3 years (e.g. Daniel 1:4-5), and you will have a winsome, complicated, and boldly defiant relationship with their worldview.
  2. You will not lie to them about their beliefs (i.e. you won’t tell them what you think will please them), but rather you will honestly express your disagreement with the portions of their worldview that you deem unhealthy (e.g. Daniel 1:8; 3:12; 6:10).
  3. Even though you clearly and candidly believe that your sensible friends are wrong/unhealthy about important things, you will, nevertheless, be sincerely committed to helping & serving them (e.g. Daniel 2:24ff).
  4. You will NOT be hostile to your sensible friends, but they are free (for the time being) to be hostile toward you if they choose to be (e.g. Daniel 3:13-15).
  5. If your sensible friends choose to be hostile toward you, you will be unapologetically committed to your invisible Friend/Master (e.g. Daniel 3:16-18).
  6. If you survive your sensible friends’ attempts to murder you, you will, nevertheless, remain committed to helping & serving them (e.g. Daniel 3:30).
  7. You are committed to having thorough and heartfelt dialogue with your sensible friends about their deepest thoughts, their fears, their failures, flaws, and shortcomings, and their experiences of humiliation (Daniel 4).
  8. You are committed to helping not only your sensible friends, but also their children (Daniel 5).
  9. Even though you clearly and candidly oppose the core tenants of your sensible friends’ lifestyle, you will nevertheless accept many promotions and distinguishments they wish to bestow upon you (Daniel 6:1-3).
  10. You are committed to genuinely lamenting the devastating consequences your sensible friends will face for their foolishness/self-deceit (Daniel 7:15, 28; 8:27; 10:2-3; Romans 9:3).
  11. Your chief commitment will always be to confess your own sin (Daniel 9:3-15; 1 Timothy 1:15; Romans 7:24).
  12. You are committed to forsaking the myth of self-sufficiency, and cultivating a robust, desperate, dependence on your invisible Friend/Master’s mercy (Daniel 9:16-19; 10:11, 15-19; Romans 11:32-36).

#TheDanielDeal