Welcome to the complex life: A reflection on the book of Daniel and living the simple life
By Pierre Gilbert
This article originally appeared in the July 2006 issue of the Christian Leader and the September 1, 2006 issue of the MB Herald.
In 2003, FOX Network created the Simple Life,a reality show in which Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, two young urban and wealthy socialites who never worked a day in their lives, take on a variety of jobs. Though Fox did not pursue the concept beyond season four, E! Network has now resurrected the show, and Fox has produced various versions for the international market.
The heart of the matter is that these two young women leave the “complex” life to embrace the “simple” life. Of course we know this is a setup. These young women embrace the “simple” life merely to enhance their enjoyment of the “complex” life. And I venture to say that most viewers would gladly exchange their own “simple” lives for the “complex” lives Paris and Nicole gleefully enjoy.
While I will not attempt to judge the motives of those who may secretly-or not so secretly-aspire to the “complex” life, I think I can safely say that many of us who identify with the Mennonite/ Anabaptist faith frown upon those who enthusiastically desire the Hilton version of the “complex” life.
For many Christians, the sin of this generation of North Americans is too much wealth, and redemption is to be found in the search for the “simple” life. While I sympathize with those who bemoan the extent to which materialism is beseeching so many, I can’t help but feel some unease with people who equate the call to radical simplicity with Christian discipleship. The real test of discipleship is not whether one scorns driving an SUV or works with a nongovernmental organization. There is another element that must be considered in this complex equation of what Christian discipleship is. This is where the book of Daniel comes in.
The book of Daniel is not a discipleship or leadership manual. While it does speak to both of these topics, it does so indirectly. The book of Daniel is really about who God is, what he is up to and how he makes sure it gets done.
Daniel is taken to Babylon around 605 B.C. He is an Israelite (1:3-4) who is designated for special training in order to enter “the king’s service” (1:5). Instead of slavery, Daniel gets a full ride scholarship to study in the most prestigious university of the ancient world. The best the Babylonian empire can provide is offered to Daniel. Heaven on earth! Fantasy Island!
I would have been profoundly grateful for the offer.First-rate training? Superb living conditions? A guaranteed and well-paid job at the end of three years? I can do that! Where do I sign up?
But something unexpected occurs. “Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way” (1:8). A measure of French diplomacy here wouldn’t hurt. In fact, it all sounds a little prima donna to me.
He is lucky to be alive, and he is lifting his nose at the best offer he could ever hope for. Now if you happen to be Paris Hilton you might be able to get away with making a scene about the food, but in Daniel’s situation it is highly advisable to shut up.
To make a long story short, it all works out quite well for Daniel and his friends. So well, in fact, that they shoot to the top of the class and upon graduation are quickly ushered into the king’s service. Daniel becomes one of the most powerful administrators of his time.
Is that all there is to Daniel’s story? Stay faithful and God will reward you? As often happens in Scripture, there is more to the story than an easy moral lesson.
In order to understand what is happening, we need to remember this most basic fact about the God of the Old Testament: Yahweh is up to something. He has a project. Ultimately God is committed to the creation of a people made up of men and women who will freely love and
serve him.
At the time of Daniel, the people of Israel are facing a terrible crisis. Jerusalem is destroyed. The elite of the nation have been taken into exile. The Israelites risk losing their identity as the people of God. For God, this is catastrophic. If this happens, it will signal the failure of God’s project and with it the end of God’s redemptive plan for humanity. This is one project that must not fail.
The “purpose-driven” crisis.
H o w does God meet the challenge? Does he give Daniel superpowers? Does he arrange for a lethal epidemic that only affects the Babylonians? Does he create an army of robots to cripple the Babylonian forces? God could adopt any one of those strategies, but in this case he doesn’t. In fact, most often, he avoids this type of option. Why?
There is one basic principle that governs the nature of God’s intervention in the world: God works in partnership with human beings. He never does by himself what he can do through human agents. While it would certainly be more effective for God to do everything himself or to use an army of well-trained androids, the reality is that God has chosen to work with human beings (see for example Gen. 1:27-28; 2:15-17). Bottom line, God needs a person to help him with the task at hand. God’s problem is straightforward: How can he ensure the survival of Israel as God’s people in a foreign land? The solution? God needs someone in the highest echelons of the Babylonian administration to facilitate the implementation of policies to promote the survival of the Israelite community in Babylon. Daniel’s most pressing mandate is, to put it bluntly, to climb the corporate ladder. His mission is to reach the highest possible level of authority in the Babylonian government.
Easier said than done. How do you get a lowly foreigner to the second highest position in the superpower of the time? Today, it would be like asking how to get someone born in Birmingham, Ala., to become Secretary of State of the most powerful nation on earth.While space does not allow me to comment on the factors that have contributed to the success of the remarkable Condoleezza Rice, the book of Daniel does provide an answer in regards to Daniel: the purposedriven crisis.
Crises have a way of disrupting our lives. Nobody really wants them, for they often entail the loss of life and property. But crises don’t only cause instability; they often create opportunities.
By 1979, Chrysler is facing a financial crisis of unprecedented proportions. As catastrophic as it is, this setback creates an opportunity for a new CEO, Lee Iacocca, to leave his mark, and for the company to develop the innovative K-car platform and to invent the wildly successful minivan concept. This crisis also enables Gerald Greenwald to become Chrysler’s vice president and the first Jewish person to become a top executive in any of the three major automakers.
The book of Daniel is written to provide a new perspective on who God is and how he works in history. In the book of Daniel, God nudges his agenda forward by allowing a series of crises that open opportunities for Daniel to rise in the ranks of the Babylonian administration and to become the second most powerful man in the kingdom. In order to
accomplish his objectives, God calls a remarkably gifted young man to partner with him. But for this strategy to be successful, Daniel has to be willing and prepared to embrace the “complex” life.
This is where we get back to the “simple” life. Many of us, in our zeal to be “counter cultural,” tend to value a particular version of the “simple” life. We may, for instance, characterize power, money, business and capitalism as intrinsically evil or at best necessary evils. We may be passionate about a particular environmental ideology.
The issue is not whether it is appropriate to hold such opinions. The problem is that sometimes a particular model of the “simple” life is offered as the paragon of Christian living.
I don’t wish to caricature, but it frequently feels like the highest good a young Christian can aspire to is to find some low paying job working for a nonprofit organization. That may well be fine in some cases, but what we need to remember, particularly in the light of the book of Daniel, is that lifestyle is to a great extent secondary. The most critical factor in the discipleship equation is mission.
The overriding concern of the disciple of Christ is not whether he or she should seek a particular version of the “simple” or “complex” life. The first concern of the disciple of Christ is to seek God and to be sensitive to God’s specific call on his or her life in partnering with him.
Lifestyle, in and of itself, should never be the Christian’s primary focus. Whenever that happens, despicable life-sucking legalisms quickly follow. Mission should be the primary motivation of the follower of Christ. Can God call Christians into a life of simplicity? Of course. But he also invites some of his servants into the “complex” life: high finance, business, science, engineering, law, diplomacy, etc.
Christian integrity does not mean conforming to any particular person’s feelings about what is an acceptable lifestyle. It is, however, the ability to recognize God’s call on one’s life and to live accordingly. This is exactly what Daniel does.
In this increasingly complex society, one must expect God to call young men and women to the “complex” life. The imperative to bring the Good News to all, and the necessity to work through history to fulfill that imperative ensure that God will continue to call Christians to embrace the “complex” life for the sake of those he wishes to reach.
We as a church need to recognize this reality and affirm those who are so called, not by condemning them, but by giving them the tools to manage the difficult call to the “complex” life (Rom. 14:1-23; 1 Cor. 9:22-23).