Peer pressure is something that we will all have to deal
with, especially when we are believers and we associate with individuals who are
not, or who might not believe on the same level as us. There will be times when
our friends or relatives will attempt to get us to do things that we should not
be doing, or go places that we should be going, but we have to have strength
enough to not allow them to get us to do things that would not be pleasing to
God. In essence, we should behave as if God is watching because he always is.
There was a time in my life when, shortly after my mother
had passed away, I had just become a legal adult, and I was trying to figure
out life on my own. I had never gotten involved with smoking, drugs or
drinking, and everyone close to me knew this. However, one day, someone close
to me was smoking marijuana in my presence, and asked me if I wanted to participate.
When I stated that I did not wish to, their response to me was that I should
try it so that once I was alone in the world, and someone tried to pass off
some artificial or harmful marijuana to me, I would be able to know the
difference, as if it was a forgone conclusion that at some point, I would
become a weed smoker just as they were. Fortunately for me, even though I did
not have a relationship with God at that point in my life, I had the strength
to refuse that person again, and through the grace of God, I can say that I
have still never gotten involved with any substance habits.
What we need to remember is that if we give in to
temptation, or if we simply just say no to the occasion of the temptation, the
devil will continue to follow us. If someone attempts to tempt a believer into
doing something that goes against their beliefs, there is a difference between
saying “no” and meaning “no”. If someone offers a non-smoker a cigarette, the
non-smoker can say “no”, but the smoker could interpret that to mean “not right
now” or “not today”. However, if the non-smoker replies with “no thanks, I
don’t smoke” or “no, smoking can kill you”, then there is no way that the
smoker can confuse the response with there being a chance that the non-smoker
might smoke in the future.
The same can be said regarding peer pressure and sex. If a
young man is trying to pressure a young girl into having sex, or if a group of
people is trying to coerce a person into having sex because ‘everyone else is
doing it’, the person being tempted can simply say “no”, but as before, the
answer could be interpreted as “not right now”, “not today”, or “not in front
of all of you”. However, if the response is something along the lines of “the
bible says that sex outside of marriage is a sin, and since my soul matters to
God, it matters to me also”, then there is no way that this response could be
confused for anything else. The point of this is that we must turn back
temptation and live according to the will and the word of God.
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