Refuse to be Defiled

I am studying in the book of Daniel and I am stuck on something that I cannot get past. Daniel made the choice to not be defiled. He chose to remain pure and true to what he believed. How awesome is that. We are faced with so many things in a day that challenge what we believe as individuals. We are faced with decisions constantly that beg us to compromise what we stand for. Many times we find ourselves not avoiding the risks involved but weighing them and managing them. It has become increasingly harder to draw a line in the sand and say we will not cross. We are looking for our own ways to cross the line without changing the labels that we wear and subjecting ourselves with the changes that come as a result to the crossed line. Daniel made the choice to not defile himself. We could say that times were different back then. The choices they were faced with weren't as gray as ours are today. Things were much more black or white and right or wrong. To a degree I would agree with that. We live in a generation and a society that has all but erased the lines between right and wrong. We have added degrees to the principles of right and wrong. We have blended the white and black into varying shades of gray. But still they were faced with things that appealed to the basest human need--food. They had been stolen from their homeland and seemingly abandoned by the God they believed in; they were presented with delicacies the king himself was feasting on, but it was contrary to the diet the law laid out for them. Feeling abandoned, confused and hopeless still they refused to be defiled. When Jesus started his ministry and went into the wilderness, as a man, He neglected His flesh for forty days by fasting. When the fast was over satan came to Him and tempted him with things again that appealed to the basest human desires--food and power. Being tired, weak and hungry and offered the things that could end all of that, Jesus refused to be defiled. The world has painted its morality system gray. We need to search for our white and black. Once we find the line that stands between the two, we need to choose what side we will be on, dig our heels in and refuse to be defiled.