There is a saying that “misery loves company.” This is so true.
Have you ever gone to a party and you see people doing drugs, or going off by themselves into a private room? I’m sure you have. But maybe you don’t want to do drugs, or drink alcohol, or smoke cigarettes, or go off with someone into a private room, but your friends keep nagging you to participate in their doings. Maybe you just want to hangout with your friends but not necessarily act like them. It’s kinda impossible to do that so you give in. But let me tell you, they are not nagging you because you are losing out on fun. They are nagging you because they are miserable, and if they are miserable, they want you to also be miserable.
Doing drugs is not fun. Drugs do harm and at times even death. Alcohol is not fun, but it can lead to an addiction that will ruin your life. Nothing exciting about smoking a cigarette other than it can lead to lung cancer or a heart attack, even at an early age. And going off with someone into a private room could become a nightmare in your life. I tell you as a teen or even a young adult, there is so much yet before you in life, and if you cave in to your peers now, you will be a slave to your lifestyle for the rest of your life. If you come from a Christian background, stay there. I tell you in your life there will be so many people who will come and go but your habits will live with you the rest of your life. If you do not come from a Christian background then find the Lord and walk in His ways and you will see that your life will be better for it and you will have no regrets. The Apostle Peter gives this advice: “Strengthen yourselves so that you will live your lives here on earth doing what God wants, not the evil things that people want to do. In the past you wasted too much time doing what those who don’t know God like to do. You were living immoral lives, doing the evil things you wanted to do. You were always getting drunk, having wild drinking parties, and doing shameful things in your worship of idols. Now those “friends” think it is strange that you no longer join them in all the wild and wasteful things they do. And so they say bad things about you. But they will have to face God to explain what they have done. He is the one who will soon judge everyone—those who are still living and those who have died.”
Yes, peer pressure can be hard to take, and bullying can really hurt, but you have to live your life, and no one else will have to pay the price for your mistakes, your regrets will only be your own. Think about it! Today it may seem hard, but in a few years, it will not matter, because you will be well established in life, but what you do today will always stay with you in your tomorrows. Timothy was just a teen when the Apostle Paul said this to him: “The Spirit God gave us does not make us afraid. His Spirit is a source of power and love and self-control.”
You no longer have to live under peer pressure and follow the crowd, you can change course while you can. Through God You Can Do It!