Peer Pressure
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
Alright, let’s talk about something that purportedly never happens in schools: peer pressure. As much as teens and young adults will say that they aren’t involved in acts of peer pressure or haven’t succumbed to it, the statistics on the fact don’t lie. Thirty-eight percent of teens have been pressured to drink and twenty-four into having premarital sex. We will not claim that it is the same for everyone and that everyone goes to those extremes: it’s to show that it happens. So what does the Bible say?
One of the many things that the Bible can be considered as is informative. King Solomon says “ and there is no new thing under the sun” in Ecclesiastes 1:9. The reason why this is important is because there are blatant acts of peer pressure in the Bible. One of the most flagrant happens throughout the entire book of Job. While he isn’t pressured to do anything physical, his wife Zophar tells him “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die” (Job 2:9). In the end, he doesn’t do that and resolves to maintain his relationship with Yahweh and to not succumb to the evil of this world, repenting to God (Job 42:1 - 6).
Job did not succumb to the pressure to leave Yahweh, and it is what we are supposed to do as well.
Allow me to go outside the Bible for the next example. Let’s say that there is a fourteen year old boy named Peter. When he goes to a party, him and his friends are confronted with a guy who offers them alcohol. Peter knows that he should not drink alcohol at this party as he does not have the age, nor does he have permission. However, he decides that it isn’t that bad and takes one. His reasoning is that because his friends are doing it, then he can do it.
Peter fell into temptation and he would therefore have to suffer the consequences for his disobedience.
Every step that we take is a choice that we make between eternal life with Yahweh and death (Deuteronomy 30:15 - 16). Sometimes, the road will seem harder than it was intended to be. It’s in those moments that you are to turn to the Lord and truly put your trust in Him. It’s the moment that the people want you to do something that you don’t want to do for personal reasons or as to not go against Yahweh. It’s when you follow that thought process that you accomplish what the book of Exodus says: “You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice” (Exodus 23:2).