When I Believe You’re Stupid & I’m Better Than You
The advice, help, and message I give produces NOTHING positive when I believe “you’re stupid and I’m better than you.”
When Daniel was captured and brought to Babylon, this new culture was extremely different from his own.
Their views on politics, morality, and religion were not congruous with his own.
They were at odds.
This environment could have easily stressed Daniel out, causing him to wonder “How terrible will things become here? What will they do to me? How might this place and these people ruin my life?”
Yet Daniel wasn’t stressed.
He was armed with faith. He was confident that God was with him, working everything out for the good.
Daniel also had a genuine concern for others.
He was others-focused.
Rather than being self-obsessed, worried about all the bad things that could happen to him, Daniel was genuinely empathetic and compassionate toward others… including those he disagreed with.
Daniel knew EVERYONE deserves respect, even godless “enemies.”
Daniel showed respect to the Babylonian overseer who controlled his food options. Rather than having a bad attitude about what was provided, Daniel respectfully appealed to him.
When Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and Daniel interpreted it—the news was bad for the king…
And Daniel says, “Your Majesty, I wish that the dream and its explanation applied to your enemies and not to you.”
Here’s the point: no one listens to someone who doesn’t respect them.
The advice, help, and message we give produces NOTHING positive when we believe “you’re stupid and I’m better than you.” People will not listen to us when we think we are morally superior.
Daniel was able to thrive in Babylon as a fearless foreigner—in part, because he treated others with respect.
He wasn’t self-obsessed, worried, or fearful. He had a genuine concern for others. He was others-focused.
He helped Nebuchadnezzar to succeed.
Daniel constantly reflected the goodness of God to a godless culture.
He was a light, shining in the darkness.
He made a difference, not by despising others, but by genuinely caring about their well-being.
Daniel didn’t walk around with an “I’m better than you and you’re stupid” attitude.
He was others-focused…
And as a result, his advice, help, and message PRODUCED.
I am a husband, father, pastor, leader & reader. I love God, love people & love life.
I love that when Daniel speaks there are seldom, if ever, exclamation points used. He was calm, cool, and confident in His God. He wasn’t afraid that Babylonian teaching, customs, and religion would somehow “infect” him. Good stuff PB (exclamation point).
Cool observation—the absence of exclamation points. I like it!
I couldn’t agree more. I was painting at a friends house and they had some guests over…this guest has a sister who is a Christian. I was not in the room, but couldn’t help but overhear the conversation. They were talking about how they didn’t respect the sister because she, in their opinion treated them as inferior because they were not Christians and that they should be like her. They then went on to talk about how “Christianity is just like another lifestyle, like being a gangster or skater, and more along those lines and how they feel so many people they know who become Christians start dressing a certain way and speaking a certain way and treating their friends poorly. I was saddened by this conversation because even though, the conversation started off with them talking about one person, it ended with a negative general view of Christians and how it is a major turn off to them. this reminds me to keep in mind that how we treat people not only effects them, but will effect countless others that we will never know.
Adrian—that is sad. It never makes sense to me when Christians treat others poorly. Frustrating.