When we think of peer pressure, our minds automatically go to teens. We are concerned with the friends they have because we know that they will influence their decisions, both positive and negative. Peer pressure is real and it begins a lot earlier than the teenage years. Peer pressure begins the moment we begin to make friends. We are only human and want to be accepted by those in our social circles and so from the time we make our first friend, we begin to experience it.

Peer pressure is a strong driving force but it doesn’t end when we graduate from high school. It continues on through college and as we get out into the workforce. Depending on where we find employment, we may begin to experience something stronger than peer pressure; it is corporate pressure. It is the pressure our corporation puts on its employees to think and conform to its particular agenda, political or otherwise.

If you decide you want to go into public service, you open yourself up to a stronger pressure than corporate pressure, it is political pressure. This pressure comes at you from all sides, political and otherwise as people want their agendas enacted by their elected officials.

If you happen to make it into state or national office, you face an even stronger pressure, it is societal pressure. The whole of society looks to you and pressures you to again follow their agenda, whatever it happens to be at the time. As we know, most politicians buckle under that pressure sooner or later. We all remember the name, Pontius Pilate. He was the governor of Judea at the time Jesus was brought before him. The political leaders wanted Jesus crucified but Pilate realized they were jealous of Him and he didn’t want to give in to them. Pilate would not go along with Jesus’ accusers in the beginning, but when the crowd began screaming for His death, he caved into the pressure.

No one is immune to peer pressure, corporate pressure, political pressure or societal pressure. We must all deal with a certain level of it wherever we find ourselves. So how do we deal with it? We can rely on our own strength and hope we can withstand whatever we are faced with, but I don’t think that is a very strong place to stand. We are all human, and we have been dealing with this pressure in one form or another from the time we were youngsters, and we didn’t always do so well when faced with it.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we must recognize that the only way we will be able to stand in a society that continues to deteriorate morally, ethically and spiritually, is to stand in the strength that He can give us. We must look to Him and ask Him for the strength to stand against whatever we are facing each day.

“Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” Ephesians 6:10

Image by Zibal Media, Courtesy of Pixabay.