Daniel 5:22-23 The Message (MSG)

“You are his son and have known all this, yet you’re as arrogant as he ever was. Look at you, setting yourself up in competition against the Master of heaven! You had the sacred chalices from his Temple brought into your drunken party so that you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines, could drink from them. You used the sacred chalices to toast your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone—blind, deaf, and imbecile gods. But you treat with contempt the living God who holds your entire life from birth to death in his hand.

There are some terrible activities that we see or hear almost every day, either from the news media or on social media platforms; these activities all boil down to the fact that people no longer honor God or the things of God like they used to.

This present generation is full of people that don’t belong anywhere; some may claim to be Christians, but when you see the manner in which they criticize ministers of God on social media (without any respect for their old age), you will wonder if their motive was to discourage those who are willing to serve God or to make others feel that Christianity does not have any standard again. The painful part is that of the supposed “men of God” that will come on social media, not in order to preach the gospel of salvation (which is the bedrock of Christianity) but to criticize other men of God (especially the popular ones) with unverified information. This is why many young people never honor God again.

King Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 27:6-7), was alive when his grandfather’s heart was turned to that of a beast (Daniel 5:18–22) and was restored back to the throne, yet he failed to honour the God of Israel. He organized a feast for his lords, wives, and concubines and ordered his servants to bring out some sanctified vessels (that Nebuchadnezzar carried away from Jerusalem) to drink wine. Even Nebuchadnezzar had never, for any reason, used any of the vessels for such purposes; he only kept them somewhere as treasures from Jerusalem.

Belshazzar not only dishonoured the God of Israel by using those sanctified vessels for drinking, but he (together with his guests) also gave honour and praise to their many gods: gods of wood, stone, gold, etc. Suddenly, a hand appeared and wrote something on the wall, which all the wise men couldn’t read or interpret except for Daniel. God had placed Belshazzar’s reign on a scale and found it wanting. He had not learned any lessons from his father. He died that same night.

Dishonoring God can come in different forms: If you are always punctual to your place of work five times a week but always get to your church service late on Sundays, it’s a sign that you don’t hold God in high esteem yet. If you find pleasure in criticizing ministers of God for every little thing (publicly) or you love to chat with friends during church service and pay no attention to God’s word, you are not honouring God.

I have discovered that one of the key reasons why people knowingly or unknowingly dishonour God is because they are trying to please men. From the story of Balaam, when he still went ahead to see King Balak despite the fact that he knew God was against the idea (Numbers 22:9–12, 22–24), to the story of King Saul, when he offered sacrifices unto God instead of waiting for Prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 13:6–14), to the story of King Herod, when he ordered that the head of John the Baptist should be given to Herodias (Matthew 14:1–9), you will discover that all these men committed grave errors because they wanted to please men. They wanted to prove to people that they were in charge because they were too occupied with “what will people say”.

The reason a married Christian young lady will fall to the temptation of sleeping with her boss in the office or with a fake pastor could be trying to please the man against honouring God with her body (which is the temple of God, 1 Corinthians 6:18–20).

There are so many situations that have brought many down in their spiritual lives and Christian journeys because they have chosen to honour men while unconsciously dishouring God. Most lies that people tell, which usually lead to other lies (when they are trying to cover them up), are deeply rooted in trying to please men or prove a point as opposed to pleasing God.

If God decides to place you on a scale today, are you very sure your result will not be like that of Belshazzar? “You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting” (Daniel 5:26–28). Turn back to Christ today and prioritize honouring Him over “being at peace with men” or looking for favour from men. Any favour or benefit that you receive from men that will dishonour God in your life should be rejected without any consideration because God will always honour whoever honours Him.

If you have learned one or two lessons, share your thoughts in the comment section below. You can also read the next chapter of the book of Daniel (Daniel 6), as we deduce another topic from the lessons learned.