Peer Pressure…

Not just a kid thing.

When I was growing up I didn’t know what it was called but sure felt it. Peer Pressure. The pressure to conform. The pressure to be like everyone else, dress like everyone else, to act like everyone else. We all face it.

Athletes face it. Why else would they jeopardize their health with putting junk into their body?

Academics face it. Why else is the temptation to falsify and plagiarize so enticing?

Media people face it. (Ask Brian Williams)

Pastors face it. Yep, you heard that right. Those bastions of spiritual maturity. Those examples of “righteousness.” Those people with feet of clay. Yeah, those people. Why else do we compete and compare numbers? Why else are we susceptible to being a people-pleaser?

Easy. Peer Pressure. It is especially excruciating when one pastor wants to break free from the stereotype of “his clan.” I had a tough time with this myself. After being part of a church group for the first 25-30 years of my ministry, breaking free was tough. I was not well-known so that helped. But I was trying to shed years of doctrinal indoctrination and (my own) teaching for another path. One I felt drawn to. Shedding legalism. Shedding narrowness. Shedding a works-oriented belief system.

But trust me on this: it was not easy. What would my peers say? What would my friends say? What would my __________ say? (Left blank on purpose). Sometimes you just gotta do it though. Think Noah, Joshua, David, Daniel, the disciples, and a whole host of others.

Have you ever struggled with peer pressure? How? What did you do?