in, this new city within the old city, we see our ownership as the gift of Jesus the Builder (Luke 17:20-21). As residents, not pilgrims, we await the kingdom coming when the Lord returns from his distant country (Luke 19:12). The land is already his… in this model home we live out our new lifestyle as citizens of the heavenly city that one day will come. We do not abandon our jobs or desert the city that is… We are to ‘seek the peace and prosperity of the city’ to which God called us in exile (Jer. 29:7). And our agenda of concerns that seeking becomes as large as the cities where our divine development tracts are found.” (Harvie Conn – Planting and Growing Urban Churches)

Think about it! How does Daniel serve as a model for us as we think about living to God’s glory in our pagan culture? What is involved in setting our hearts “not to be defiled?” Why is this impossible to do apart from the truth and power of the gospel of God’s?