The Excellent Spirit

Then this Daniel, because of the extraordinary (excellent) spirit within him, began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and the satraps, and the king planned to appoint him over the entire realm. Then the [other two] commissioners and the satraps began trying to find a reason to bring a complaint against Daniel concerning the [administration of the] kingdom; but they could find no reason for an accusation or evidence of corruption, because he was faithful [a man of high moral character and personal integrity], and no negligence or corruption [of any kind] was found in him. 📖 Daniel‬ ‭6.3-4‬ ‭AMP‬‬

When thinking about everything that Daniel endured, Scripture says that no negligence or corruption was found in him. This is a powerful reminder and call-up to each of us. Scripture also says that because Daniel’s accusers found nothing valid to hold against him, they had to go after His relationship with [or devotion to] God (verse 5).

Then these men said, “We will not find any basis for an accusation against this Daniel unless we find something against him in connection with the law of his God. 📖 Daniel‬ ‭6.5‬ ‭AMP‬‬

What if we too were to live our lives in such a way that no corruption could be found in us, so much such that our accusers would have to go after the God we serve?

Daniel carried himself with such an excellent spirit (Daniel 5.12) that the only thing his enemies could attack him about was His God. He boldly hid behind and was consumed by the image of God. The text doesn’t say he was sinless like Jesus or blameless like Job, but that he lived above accusation and corruption as it related to his duties and lifestyle. He didn’t slack off, do the minimum, selfishly rebel, stir up drama, or pursue his own agenda.

Living The God Way

We can live such messy lives today (even as Christians) that there’s no shortage of things for people to hold against us. And then when accountability comes, we often want to call out our haters when they call out our faults instead of giving ourselves completely to God and repenting for our mess and mistakes.

But God calls us to live our lives in such a way [with an excellent spirit] that the only thing our enemies can hold against us is not our bad character but the ways of God that we live out. He’s great enough to be our covering and our keeper. And He’s even willing to be the target on our back.

There’s a difference between suffering for our poor choices and attitude vs. suffering for loving and following God. One suffering we invite. The other is simply the cost we pay to live for Him. What if we lived such that God was the only “weakness” someone could take issue with about our lives?