Starting Right
Starting Right is a 5 minute Day Starter to help keep you motivated, encouraged, and focused throughout your day. DannyMac is a pastor, teacher, motivational speaker, husband, and father. His years of leading and training people have given him vast experience in helping individuals to accomplish change in their lives and meet their goals. He can help you set the course for your day by offering practical advice from God's Word in a positive and fun way. There is no better way to begin your day than by Starting Right with DannyMac.
Starting Right
Standing Firm When Power Conspires Against You
What happens when the truth becomes inconvenient for those in power? The story of Herodias and John the Baptist demonstrates the sharp contrast between those who scheme for personal gain and those who stand unwavering for what's right.
Today's devotional challenges us to consider which path we'll choose in our own lives. Will we pursue short-term victories through manipulation and compromise? Or will we be people of love, grace, and humble strength who refuse to bend when truth is at stake? Join us and be encouraged today.
Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mac. I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back, relax and let me help you start your day right. Today, I want to take another look at one of the villains of the Bible. I don't want to glorify them that's not my purpose but I think there are things that we can learn from them that help us to know how to deal with people and situations and hopefully live our own lives in a better, more productive way. So today I want to take a look at one of the most let's call it scheming and villainous creatures in the New Testament. This happened to be Herodias, and she was the wife of Herod, who had John the Baptist killed. Just a little bit of background about her before we get into the story. Her name, herodias, is just simply the female form of Herod, which was the royal name for the political rulers during the time of Christ and the apostles. It was under the rule of this Herod, herod, Antipas, that Jesus and the disciples and many of the followers of Christ suffered tremendous persecution. Herodias was the daughter of a man by the name of Aristobulus. He was the son of Herod the Great. It's interesting to note that her first husband was her uncle Philip I. That marriage produced a daughter. Her name was Salome. On one of his visits to Rome, herod Antipas and his Arabian princess wife were staying with his brother Philip and Herodias. Herod decided he really liked Herodias, so he abducted her, made her his own wife, divorced the Arabian princess and arrived back in Jerusalem with this brand new illicit marriage and a new stepdaughter, salome.
Speaker 1:Along comes John the Baptist. Now John. He was fearless. He didn't let anybody intimidate him. He didn't care what they said, what authority they felt they had. He simply proclaimed the word of God and he wasn't afraid to do it. So anytime he was challenged, his response was always with the truth of God and he never backed away from that. King Herod heard about John and started talking to him and actually he kind of liked John. He found John's words comforting and uplifting. But when Herod brought his new wife into town, john had some other words for him. John told Herod that it was against God's law for him to marry his brother's wife, and apparently Herod listened and was beginning to think this over a little bit. Herodias got so upset she wanted John killed, but Herod wouldn't do it. He simply had John locked away.
Speaker 1:Herodias kept scheming and she finally figured out a way to remove John the Baptist. Matthew 14, starting in verse 6, tells us about it. At a birthday party for Herod, herodias' daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, so he promised with a vow that he would give her anything she wanted. At her mother's urging, the girl said I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray. Then the king regretted what he had said, but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. So John was beheaded in the prison and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother.
Speaker 1:John was dead, but the victory for Herod, antipas and Herodias was very short-lived. Within a few years they were stripped of their power and banished from their lands and, probably most galling of all, to Herodias, all of their wealth had to be given to her former husband. But if we look at John the Baptist, his legacy is something completely different. He's left for us a legacy of truth and life and power that comes in understanding who Jesus Christ is. He leaves for us a legacy of faithfulness.
Speaker 1:In difficult times, when people of power were coming against him, he stood strong, he did not compromise, he never deviated from what was right. He always spoke the truth of God and then, whatever happened after that, he left in God's hands. His job was to declare the truth of God and really that's the lesson for us To choose to live every day as God has directed us. That means that we are people of love, we are people of grace, we are people of humility but of great strength in who Jesus Christ is within us. We do not compromise, but instead we respond with grace and love and compassion. We are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but we will share it with people when the opportunities will come To be able to live as light in the middle of the darkness as John the Baptist did. It impacts our children, it impacts our families, it impacts our communities, it impacts the places that we live. We are light for Jesus Christ when we stand upon those principles and we live them. Our authority is Jesus Christ and his word, and we will choose to live by it and change our world because of it.
Speaker 1:And Herodias? Well, she was a schemer and a conniver. She thought she'd won but, like most villains, it never pays off in the long run. Have a great day. My never pays off in the long run. Have a great day, my friends. We will talk again tomorrow. Thank you for listening today and I invite you to join me Monday to Friday, right here on Starting Right with Danny Mac.
