A Godly Life in Today's Culture

I’m a person who loves information. I’ve always been curious, annoyingly so at times, I’m sure. Few things delight my soul like learning an interesting fact about something, whether trivial or global in impact. I love to read books, magazines, and newspapers. I love a good documentary or historical series. I have little interest in local news shows, but I hate to miss the nightly world news.

Lately, however, I find the news troubling. The stories of political strife, crime, and depravity can steal my joy and threaten to deflate me. As a woman striving to live a godly life, I find today’s culture anything but encouraging. As a wife, mom, and Mimi, the bird’s-eye view of our culture offered by the world news threatens to unravel my hopes and dreams for my loved ones, causing me to question whether they can thrive and succeed in a day marked by unholy, troubling times.

Is there hope for those who set their hearts on the holy, higher ways of God? Is there more than victory over smaller battles, but actual triumph over the assaults and temptations encountered by those who dare to want a godly life and find themselves fighting the mindset of the day?

Praise God, He gives great hope, powerful help, and incredible examples of those who have fought these battles against the messages and seduction of pagan cultures and won. We have examples of those who triumphed over the enemy and lived lives worthy of study, worthy of honor, and worthy of emulation. Not only can we always glean from the example of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, we have life-giving examples in the Word of God of men and women who triumphed. The prophet Daniel is one such example.

Daniel, as a Hebrew captive, lived in the pagan culture of Babylon where, at times, even his life was threatened because of his godly lifestyle. Daniel exhibited a life and character that honored God and provided leadership for other exiles in Babylon. Daniel’s life shows us the way to thrive, regardless of a culture that shouts insults at us while simultaneously inviting us to drink in every concoction of temptation the enemy can muster.

Did Daniel cave in to despair at the hands of an ungodly culture? No way! Was he tripped up by seductive messages of indulgence and pride? Nope. Daniel lived a steadfast life, fulfilling what God ordained for him right in the middle of the enemy’s territory.

You and I can glean from Daniel’s example, for do we not live in a similar society today? Are we not surrounded by ungodly circumstances? We have nothing to fear for ourselves, for our children and grandchildren, and for all who walk alongside us. God is greater than our enemy, greater than what the messages of the day shout, greater than the temptations and threats the world may send our way.

Friend, let me encourage you — you and your loved ones were made to overcome, to thrive in this day. The timing of your birth and of those you love was planned by a loving and holy God who is undaunted by the evil and sin of the world.

Pause for a moment to take in this next truth: His call is for more than just escaping the traps of our culture. That’s right, His invitation is for so much more. He is calling you and me into a deeper place with Him so we can be faithful, courageous, and trustworthy, exhibiting a freedom and peace the world can’t explain or replicate without Jesus. Other believers also need to see and be encouraged by a life like Daniel’s, lived out right here in our messy, broken world.

Excerpted from Trustworthy: A Study of the Life and Character of Daniel, by Kay Burnett. Copyright ©2019 Gospel Publishing House, pp 7-8. All rights reserved. Feb. 23 is National Women’s Day in the Assemblies of God.

Kay Burnett

Kay Burnett has served alongside her husband, Jim, in full-time ministry for more than twenty years—eight of those years serving as the Arizona Network Women’s Ministries director. In 2016, she was appointed as the Assemblies of God National Women’s Ministries director. Jim and Kay are the proud parents of a son and daughter-in-law, a daughter and son-in-law, and five grandchildren.