Project Description
2014/05
Peer Pressure
Peer pressure, the feeling of being pressurized to do or be something by those around us, is something we all experience.
It is positive when we provoke one another unto love and good works. (Hebrews 10:24) But it can also be negative – peers may pressurize us to enter into a questionable relationship, to experiment with drugs or alcohol, or to view questionable material on the internet.
Daniel and his three friends, brought as teenagers from Israel to Babylon, faced considerable peer pressure. They were placed in a land that was morally bankrupt, with few believers, and so were deprived of the security of religious heritage. Nebuchadnezzar wanted to change their diet, their mindset, their speech, their names, their appearance, and their religion (Daniel 1:4-7). They were pressed to eat meat offered to idols, then enrolled in the University of Babylon to learn Chaldean and to be indoctrinated with the humanistic, secular and cultish learning of that nation. Nebuchadnezzar sought to change their identity and to erase the memory of their Godly upbringing, to create a band of young men who would look like, sound like, think like, and eat like native Babylonians! And you too may feel under pressure to talk like the world, appear like the world, or even think like the world with its humanism, secularism, ecumenism and atheism.
The natural thing is to yield to this pressure, especially as it can be very strong. When the tide of popular opinion is against us, it is hard to stand. It is a lot easier to drift. Daniel had the King, the King’s court, parliament and an entire nation urging him to conform! The pressure was continual as the meat was set before them every day for ten days. Others were eating the King’s meat – everyone else was doing it.
Naturally we value acceptance and don’t like being left out. What is set before us is often appealing to the senses. In Daniel’s case it appealed to the eyes and the nose – the meat looked and smelt more appetizing than the cabbage-like pulse. He knew that the meat would taste a lot better than the pulse. If there was little or no appeal to our senses the pressure to conform would not be so great.
Daniel 1 provides us with clear direction to aid us in confronting peer pressure.
• Purpose in your heart to honour God above all (v8): there can be no purity of life where there is no purpose of heart. Daniel was not going to defile his conscience. We must learn to say no. Daniel could have argued that there was no choice. But the child of God always has the choice of honouring or dishonouring God.
• Even if it appears unpopular or unsuccessful, do what is right: eating pulse and drinking water when there was beef and wine on offer appeared foolish and politically incorrect. Even if Daniel had not appeared ‘fairer and fatter in flesh’ after eating the pulse, it was still the right thing to do. Faithfulness is more important than success!
• Nail your colours to the mast at the first available opportunity: Daniel let everyone know where he stood as soon as pressure was put on him. The longer we hide our light under a bushel the more difficult it becomes to let it shine.
• Be gracious in your behaviour: Daniel treated his peers and those in authority politely, and in the process he won their respect.
• Never forget in the darkness what God has shown you in the light: in Babylon, Daniel could have been tempted to think that society had moved on and the principles he learned as a boy were no longer relevant. Truth and morality do not change. We must take our stand, and not waver. Daniel knew God’s word on the matter, Leviticus 7.22-27.
• Be consistent in your conduct: Daniel didn’t honour God in this area and dishonour Him in others. Nor did he reason that a little compromise would do no harm.
• Maintain close fellowship with God: we sometimes sing ‘Daniel was a man of prayer’ and he was. His communion with God enabled resistance of pressure to conform.
A dead fish can only go with the tide – but a living one can swim against it. A sign of spiritual life is the ability to walk against the course of this world. Daniel had the life of God in him, and we can only conquer when we have new life in Christ.
The apostle Paul faced immense pressure from the Jews and the Romans, but said “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Romans 8:37). John declared “this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4). Christ prays for His people when they face the hour of temptation “I pray … that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 17:15) He provides a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). He was victorious in temptation (Hebrews 4:15-16), and He is able to help us (Hebrews 2:18). He gives us the Holy Spirit who empowers us to live victoriously.
Young person, ‘dare to be a Daniel’ – ‘dare to stand alone, dare to have a purpose firm, and dare to make it known’.
Rev Roger Higginson.
