YOUTH
Do You Fit In?
By Vicki Courtney
CBN.com – Not long ago I went to a meeting at my son’s high school where there were about three hundred students gathered together. The reason for the meeting was to have a vote on the theme for the homecoming dance.
The homecoming dance is the most important
dance all school year, so they give it a decorating
“theme.”
At this meeting the students were given four
choices for the theme. They were then asked to raise
their hands when their favorite theme was called.
I noticed a group of about ten girls whispering
back and forth about which theme they would
vote on. When it came time for the vote and their
choice was called, they all confidently raised
their hands together. They were sure this was the
theme they wanted.
As soon as their hands went
in the air, they glanced around the room. Out of
three hundred people, only a few other people
had picked that theme. Their choice was not the
popular choice. A few of the girls became really
uncomfortable and quickly lowered their hands
before their vote was counted. They wanted so
badly to fit in that they changed their vote just to
go along with the crowd!
Almost every child, tween, teen, and even
adult wants to fit in. Sooner or later, you will be
faced with a time where you will have to choose
to “fit in” with the crowd or “stand strong” for what
you believe in. Standing strong may be hard—
and may even mean that you won’t
be popular. As a Christian, this
can be a real tough challenge
if “fitting in” means going
against your faith or
belief in God. Believe
it or not, the Bible talks
about three teenagers in
the Bible who had to face that
very challenge! And get this—
standing strong cost them much more than just
popularity—they almost lost their very lives.
Maybe you remember the story of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. You may have even
seen the VeggieTales version of the story
with Rack, Shack, and Benny in the chocolate
factory! Remember the song? “The bunny, the
bunny, oooh, I love the bunny. . . .” OK,
before you get that song stuck
in your head, let’s get back
to the real story! God told
the boys not to worship
any gods (or idols)
except for him, the one
true God.
The king at the
time, King Nebuchadnezzar,
didn’t believe in God, and he gave
a command for all the people in the land to fall
down and worship a gold statue (idol) he had
created. (Sorry VeggieTales fans—it was not really
a chocolate bunny!) Now, this was not your
average gold statue. It was ninety feet high! The king told everyone
that they should bow down
to this gold statue whenever
they heard the sound of the
horn, flute, harp, and
all kinds of music. In
other words, when
the music started playing,
hit the dirt! Then the
king said that anyone who
refused to fall down and worship
the gold image would immediately be
thrown into a blazing furnace!
Have you ever
been to a camp out and felt the heat coming
from the campfire? Well, this is like thousands
and thousands of campfires in a giant metal fireplace.
And believe me, the king wasn’t planning
to use it to roast marshmallows!
When the music began playing, you can bet
that everyone hit the dirt—everyone that is,
except Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They
refused to bow down and worship t
he golden image. Someone told
the king, and he asked to see
the boys. (Don’t you hate
tattletales?!) The king
gave them one more
chance to bow down and
worship the golden image
and reminded them that if they
didn’t, they would be tossed into
the fiery furnace.
Now stop for a minute and think about their
situation. It is normal to want to go along with
what everyone else does. And it is even more
normal to WANT TO LIVE! Yet these boys overcame
the temptation to follow the crowd and
bow down to the image. Remember the girls
voting on the homecoming theme? They felt
out of place with just three hundred other students.
Picture a much, much larger group of people,
and try to imagine these three boys standing
while everyone else is bowing down. Would you
have continued standing the first time the music
played? I hope so.
OK, now let’s fast-forward to when the king
decides to give them one more chance to bow
down and worship the golden image. Now what
would you do? Would you still be standing when
the music began to play again? That’s a tough
decision, isn’t it? Let’s check back in on our boys
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and see what
they decided to do. The Bible tells us that this is
what they told the king:
Nebuchadnezzar, we don’t need to give you
an answer to this question. If the God we serve
exists, then He can rescue us from the furnace of
blazing fire, and He can rescue us from the power
of you, the king. But even if He does not rescue
us, we want you as king to know that we will not
serve your gods or worship the gold statue you
set up (Daniel 3:15–18).
Wow! Forget the music and send the orchestra
home. No need even to play a note; these
boys had made up their minds. They knew
their God could rescue them, but they did not
know whether he actually would rescue them.
They were willing to stand up for God, even
if it meant they could die. Most of us, even if
we had made it through the first song still standing,
would have probably bowed down the second
time after one look at that fiery furnace.
So
what do you think happened to the boys?
There
is bad news and good news. Let’s start with the
bad news. The Bible tells us that the king was so
angry that he had the furnace heated up seven
times hotter than before! It was so hot that the
flames coming up killed the soldiers who brought
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over to the
furnace! But wait—it gets even worse. True to his
promise, the king had the boys thrown into the
fiery furnace.
But here’s the good
news—when the boys
were brought out of
the fiery furnace,
they weren’t
harmed at
all! Not
even a sunburn
on those
boys! And that’s not
all. Remember how the
king didn’t believe in God
and worshipped that stupid
ninety-foot golden statue? When the boys came
out of the fire, the king knew that only the one
true God could have saved them, so he made a
new law that anyone who ever said anything bad
about the boys’ God would be cut into pieces!
In the same way, we
should care more about
serving God than bowing
down to the things around us. Now I don’t imagine
you will be asked to bow down to a ninety-foot
golden statue any time soon (or ever!), but there
are plenty of other things Christians will be
tempted to do on a daily basis. What about gossip,
lying, or disobeying? How about wearing clothes
that aren’t pure? What about letting a friend copy
your homework? Or saying bad words? Or even
viewing things on television, the computer, or in
the movies that you know your parents don’t approve
of? When it comes to the temptation to “fit
in,” let’s try to remember Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego and how they chose to stand up
for God.
If they can do it, we can too!
Do you have a relationship with Jesus? Meet Him now.
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Excerpted from Between: A Girl's Guide to Life by Vicki Courtney, copyright © 2006.
Published by Broadman & Holman Publishers.
Used by permission. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
About the author: Vicki Courtney is the founder of Virtuous Reality Ministries, which reaches more than 150,000 girls and moms a year through events, an online magazine for teen girls (virtuousreality.com), and other resources. She is a national speaker and the best-selling author of TeenVirtue: Real Issues, Real Life ... A Teen Girl's Survival Guide. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, Keith and three children, Ryan, Paige and Hayden. To learn more visit www.VirtuousReality.com or www.VickiCourtney.com.
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