Oftentimes, we think we’re taking the right steps when we’re actually making the wrong decision. Here are practical ways that we deceive ourselves.

The weddings in Jesus’ time were arranged marriages. They were not just arranged for relationships but to strengthen family businesses and legacies. Families would come together and negotiate a financial contribution they would each sow into the couple. There would be terms. Then, there would be the actual wedding ceremony. During this time, just the feast portion alone would last five days.

The book of Daniel teaches us how to live a life of integrity in a culture that does not honor God. Daniel was among the exiled Israelites in Babylon, which had a culture of excess. He lived a life dedicated to the Lord by setting a standard that he would not defile himself with the ways of the Babylonian culture that violated his convictions.