Whether we Christians would like to admit it or not we are strangers in a foreign land. That does not matter what part of the world we live in. We are both citizens and captives in our respective countries, and lands.

We are citizens of nations, because we are in the world. We are captives because we are in the world, but not of the world (1 John 2:15-16; 4:4). How is the Christian to live in a world of sin and darkness? As servants of Christ Jesus; as the light of Christ.

Please note these verses from Daniel:

“As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.” Daniel 1:17-20 (KJV)

Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were young people who had been taken captive from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. How were young men to live in a foreign land, and how were they to behave in a land that despised everything they had stood for before?

In the previous verses Daniel and his friends had challenged the drinking and eating of the young captives. They had shown that they were brighter, more intelligent, and wise in their youth because they were of God.

What is said of them in the verses above is due to the fact that they were a work of God. Nothing that Babylon or the world had contributed to them.

Christian, you are a captive in a foreign land. You are also useful to God in the land as the Light of Jesus Christ. Stand for Him. Stand on His promises, and the whole counsel of His Word.