How can I overcome peer pressure?

Those working near us may swear, or tell questionable stories, or seek to tempt us to go their way. To all this there should be a kind, courteous refusal to give their worldly and sinful ways any approval.

*Look at the state man is really in as regards the trust he puts in man rather than God. If his neighbour should ask him to do anything, though his conscience may tell him God hates what his neighbour wants him to do, still, rather than disoblige his neighbour, he will sin against God. He finds it harder to refuse his neighbour, than not to walk with God; it would distress him more to refuse him either in going to ungodly places of amusement, or gratification, or indulging in known sin, I say, it would distress him more to refuse his neighbour to join in such scenes and diversions, than to break the holy commandments of God, and to despise the sacrifice of God's Son.

The injunction against following a multitude in wrongdoing is to be noted. All too often have Christians gone off on a wrong course, assuring themselves that it must be right because many of their friends are travelling on that road. A multitude of real saints may pursue a course that is wrong, but that does not make it right. Our responsibility is to be governed by the Word of God, even if that means diverging from a multitude.

Finally, dear friend, let us entreat you to yield yourself without reserve to the Word of your Lord. Do not permit your “friends” to stand in your way. Will your friends answer for you before the judgment-seat of Christ? Can they now fill your heart with that sweet peace which can only be found in the path of obedience? They do not deserve the name of friends if they stand in your way in following Christ. They are just like the swallows that flutter about us in the summertime, but on the first approach of autumn blasts they wing their way to sunnier climes. Obey, we beseech you, the Word of your Lord. Let no flimsy excuse, no worldly consideration, no thought of personal greatness weigh with you for a single moment. What will all these things be worth in the light of the judgment-seat of Christ? What will you think of them in eternity?

But you will tell us you are saved; you are a “Christian girl”; you have eternal life; you can never perish. Thank God for all this. But surely you do not mean to say that this is any reason why you should not obey what you know to be the Word of God. Is it not rather the very ground of obedience, and the love of Christ the constraining motive? What are all the friends in the world compared with Christ? Would they shed their blood to do you good? No, but they are making you miserably unhappy to please them. You would rather pain the heart of Jesus by neglecting His commandments than pain your friends by obeying Him.

We can apply this to many different situations. We may do certain things because of pressure but this is always wrong. Let us ask ourselves, “Can this happen to me that in a similar situation I would act like Peter would?”This can happen even after much instruction. Even after Peter was shown the vision by the Lord in Acts 10, after he had been taught by the Lord Himself that what God had sanctified he should not declare unholy, after his preaching in the house of Cornelius and after the consultation that we have seen earlier in the chapter (perhaps even after the meeting they had in Acts 15, but this probably took place later), he failed in this respect. Can such a well taught man fail regarding this truth? Yes, that can happen. It can happen to the best one and so it can certainly happen to me and to you. This does not only apply to the matter of circumcision or uncircumcision, it may be applied to many other things, that we are able to deviate and follow fleshly pressure, whatever it may be.

1916 110 It may sound a truism to say we are not left here to please ourselves. There are many influences around to which we are in danger of succumbing, but if they are not of God we are not to yield to them.

Select only decided Christians to be your friends. Be sure your companions are strongly on the Lord's side. A man is known by the company he keeps. Stay clear of people with loose opinions and lax morals. Your companions will influence you either for good or for evil.

This verse brings us to the major crisis in Daniel's life. It occurs early on, and if he had turned aside here his name would probably have been unknown. He would just have been one of the many who passively accepted the new situation. "Well, that's all right back home, but here no one will know about it. You can do what you please! You should think of yourself, your future." Such pressures and plausible arguments are set before the young today. Is it not likely that similar enticements were held out before Daniel? But Daniel was determined to obey God's Word. The reason for his faithfulness was that he had God's word in his heart. That alone can be the source of true strength in the young Christian (1 John 2:14). What the Bible said is all that mattered to this captive. Its supreme authority held sway over his life.

He was away from home, from his godly parents, the temple, and bereft of virtually every human support. He resolved to do God's will, and so proceeded to take an extraordinary course, simply and solely because the Scriptures required him to do so. Again he would have faced a personal conflict. Appeals to common sense would have been set before him. "Don't make a fuss in public. What you believe in private is all right, but don't make a show of it. Adapt yourself to your new circumstances; times are different now. You have no option!" It is true that a man with an open Bible does not have an option. In this respect Acts 5:29 is very clear: "We ought to obey God rather than men!" In the face of all that the adversary might say against such a course, Daniel came to the right decision in his heart. Daniel might have to stand alone but stand he would. Have you made such a decision?

He cleared the difficulty, and got out of the crowd. I admire him! Look here, young man, what is your crowd — your difficulty? Your difficulty in becoming a Christian is this, "What would my fellows say? What would my classmates say, if I were to become a Christian? They would laugh at me." Never mind that. When I was converted, my old companions had plenty of laughing at me; but I said to them, "My dear fellows, I have the best of it, depend upon it. I have Christ for time and eternity. I am safe for time and eternity. I am happy for time and eternity. You may laugh as you please, but, thank God, when you will be just finishing with the things of this world, and will have nothing but 'the wages of sin' for eternity, I shall be just beginning my joy." My dear friends, that is how the devil tries to hinder a man. Sometimes he says he would not hold out to the end; or, again, that he would not be able to stand against the mockery of his fellows; or, again, he suggests that he would be a contemptible fellow if he began to follow Christ, and did not hold out. In that way the devil seeks to hinder your blessing. Heed him not. My friend, you must get out from all this press; I implore you, break from the press. There is a man in this room who is anxious, but the devil says to him, "Your prospects would suffer, you must not be a Christian." I reply, "Better lose your prospects than lose your soul." "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:36-37).

Similarly, we live in days when we must be able to say “no.” Joseph's action in Genesis 39:10 illustrates this. In a situation where a wholehearted decision to cling to the Lord was required in order to refuse, break off, and go away from temptation, he triumphed by God's grace.*