Daniel shows the way

I was reminded recently that Christians should be civil---to each other as well as to unbelievers, I presume. I am all for that. "The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone" (2 Timothy 2:24).

Let's make sure civility is not a cover for cowardliness. I for one have been so darned civil all my Christian life that few would suspect my orientation. I never breach the social situation. I respect the feelings of others. I would stifle my impulse where Brit Hume blurted his faith on national TV---this was a news show, come on. My etiquette in restaurants is unimpeachable: I have prayed before meals with such discretion that an onlooker would think I had bowed my head to pluck a hair from my soup. I have waited so long for the subject of God to come up naturally with my neighbors that families have moved in and moved on in the meantime.

And whereas in the company of certain stripes of Christian I am expansive in my praise of God, and I pray at the drop of a hat, with other kinds of Christians I hold back---and I have a keen sense of which kind I am in the presence of. With the latter I am able to look indistinguishable from a worldly woman except that I don't curse and am ignorant of most popular culture.

All the while, the unbelievers of the world are themselves. They act freely. They make no effort to restrain their manners for my sake or stifle their opinions in religious company, no matter how outlandish these behaviors and opinions seemed only a generation ago.

I think Brit Hume just finally got fed up with the double standard on the day he violated an unspoken social contract on Fox News when asked his opinion of the Tiger Woods imbroglio.

So what is the right and wise way? How do we Christians avoid falling off the horse on the one side of incivility and the opposite side of dereliction of duty? I think the prophet Daniel provides the clue.

The jealous satraps were out to get him, so they tricked King Darius into making a law that they knew his governor Daniel would eventually be found in violation of. The decree stated that anyone found petitioning any god except the king would be cast into the den of lions.

"When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously" (Daniel 6:10).

Daniel got caught, of course, and was thrown into the den, which all ended happily. But I note with edification that he didn't change a thing in his normal routine. He did only what he had done all along. (See Galatians 2:11-14 for a negative example.) This, to my thinking, is the definition of integrity---being the same person in any company. As a policy it has several advantages: First, it is less exhausting than changing our face to suit every cultural situation. Secondly, evangelism tends to flow organically.

In other words, the question of civility versus boldness disappears. The thing to attend to---the first order of business---is not how we should conduct ourselves toward men but how we should conduct ourselves toward God. The horizontal relationship question tends to take care of itself.

But let us take heed: If we continue to be so "civil" and restrained and (let's say it) chameleonlike in the world, we had better not imagine that all our forums on "transforming culture," which are all the rage today, will make a whit of difference for the kingdom of God.

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.