All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon, the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great that I have built by my vast power to be a royal residence and to display my majestic glory?”
Daniel 4:28-30 HCSB

In the Book of Daniel, four young men stand their ground with King Nebuchadnezzar. Through this, the king is converted to a believer. He has always been prideful, and a bit of a narcissist. After his conversion, he slips. Our Scripture passage shows us him falling back into his prideful ways after his conversion.

Yesterday I ran into a friend who was helping at an annual community event. People there had been participating in this event for many years. My friend suggested a simpler way to do one of the tasks. It was a safer, more efficient way to get the job done. Their response to him was, “We will do it our way.” When he asked why they didn’t want to try to tool he had suggested they said, “Because this is how we have always done it.”

This is a very common mentality. We get comfortable with how we do things even if a better way comes along. We tend to be resistant to change. Nebuchadnezzar knew God’s way was better, but he slipped back into pride.

As Christians, don’t we often do the same thing? We know God’s way is better. We accept Christ as our Savior, but then we fall back into our old ways. The newness wears off and we find ourselves back where we started. The devil tries to tell us this is okay because this is how we have always done it, but we know better.

If you accepted Christ as your Savior, but nothing has changed in how you do things or how you treat others, you may want to give that some thought. When we accept Christ as our Savior, it should change us from the inside out. Our Christianity should shine like a beacon to the lost. Just as Daniel and his three friends did.

People make a public profession of faith for many reasons. Sometimes they do it to impress someone they love. Sometimes they do it because they are caught up in emotion. Sometimes they do it because they feel it’s expected of them.

So, I want you to ask yourself why you made a public profession of faith. Did someone tell you to do it? Were you caught up in the emotion of a revival or church camp? Did you do it because you thought it would please someone you love?

If that’s the case, you may find that you got baptized and continued to do things the way you had always done them. Our salvation should come because we are called by Christ to salvation. This happens when we enter into a close, personal relationship with Him. We are told in James 4:8 that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us.

Our works don’t save us, only Jesus can save us. But, if we have been truly saved, we will want to live our lives in a way that pleases Him. We will want to serve Him and do the things He calls us to do. We will want to do things differently and not as we have always done them.

A good way to know if you were truly saved is to do an assessment. What has changed? Have you changed the way you talk? Have you changed the way you think? Have you changed the way you treat others? If not, draw near to Him, repent of your sins and ask Him to save you.

Don’t continue in your old ways simply because that’s the way you have always done it. God has a better way.

Have a great day!