Peer Pressure

Going our way?

"The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptations" (2 Peter 2:9).

What is Peer Pressure?

Peer pressure is allowing other people to influence your thoughts and actions. Where a group of friends share values, they tend to influence each other's thoughts, values and behaviours. What the group thinks, then persuades a teen to think and act as the group wants. Peer pressure is also wanting what a group offers and often this can be bad. For example clothes, living style, promiscuity, drugs, alcohol and pornography. A teen then behaves in a manner that the group approves, in exchange for group membership and approval.

The Effect of Peer Pressure:

Peer pressure has a powerful influence on teens. You want to fit in with those around you and need to feel that you belong. But, the price of belonging is conforming with the group. If you don't agree with their opinions and go along with the things they do, you will probably experience rejection. Or, you fear that if you refuse to give in, you will lose their friendship or respect, so what do you do?

Positive Peer Pressure:

This is when your friends talk you into doing good things, such as helping others or going to Teen Church. Christian teens have a greater sense of right and wrong than many non-Christians. Your Christian values should allow you to say "no" to anything that is dishonest or wrong. When you take a stand for what is right, you take a stand for God. His side is always the winning side, because God promises never to leave us nor abandon us.

Negative Peer Pressure:

Negative peer pressure is when your friends put pressure on you to do something you know is wrong or don't want to do. They may want you to cheat, or lie, or steal, or say or do something makes you feel uncomfortable.

Negative peer pressure is just another name for temptation. At the Last Supper, Jesus said that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, and so we must watch and pray that we do not fall into temptation (Matthew 26:41). James tells us that we must submit to God, resist the devil, he will flee from us (James 4:7).

This means that if we pray daily and ask God to guide and strengthen us, and He will give us the strength to resist temptations. The Apostle Paul reminds us that God is faithful and will not allow us to be tempted above what we can resist (1 Corinthians 10:13).

The Solution:

God can deliver us from temptation and negative peer pressure if we pray for this, but we should rather pray that the temptation does not arise. And if it does, then for us to have the strength to say "No!" and quickly get away from the temptation.

The best solution is to choose your own peer relationships. God knows you need a support system, and so He's provided teen and youth groups in His church to meet this need. You need to develop the courage of your own convictions and find good Christian friends, so that you can follow the Lord faithfully in the face of pressures from your other peers.

God Bless!