History books are filled with stories of how friends and relatives have influenced each other into doing wrong things or building up froward (not easily managed) characters into those within their clime. We have had several stories about how a very well behaved person suddenly changed to something else, turning wayward and going into doing anything dirty and messy. Remarks on such a person by observers used to be: “something might have gone wrong with this guy. These are not what we know him/her of.” The easiest conclusion would be: “This is a handiwork of peer group.” Peer group has negative and positive influences on both the youths and the adults. Peer group is group of people of the same age or social status. Members of peer group can be people, either from outside, within the same family, from same professional class and so on. Peer group can make or mar someone’s characters, depending on what is the group’s ulterior motive. Majorly, peer group subjects her members to peer pressure. Today’s devotional is looking at how Christian can be negatively influenced by peer group by mounting pressures on that individual so as to turn him/her into a different character.
In our today’s lead passage, Jonadab played a role as peer pressure who gave his cousin, Amnon, counsel on how to rape his step sister, Tamar. Amnon had desire to have sex with his step sister quite right. But the one who suggested how to perfect the act was Jonadab. Many people have had their destinies ruined through peer pressure. Many women left their marriages because of peer pressures. Many men had done so through same influence. Young boys and girls have embraced illicit drugs and immoral lifestyle curtsey of peer pressures. Schools these days have become citadels of grooming cultists and criminals through peer pressures. Bad peer pressure has caused great havocs on churches as discreet characters squeezed themselves into churches recruiting people.
This devotional comes to warn Christians about the danger of allowing self to be pressured wrongly via peer pressure into bad behaviours. Nobody should deceive the church that such cannot be as some may think that Jesus Christ said: “The gates of hell shall not prevail against His church.” Many pretended friends have turned very good Christian wives to public woman for any man who cares. Girls in the church are not spared. Pastors have been doomed by the members of these groups. Bad peer group is usually formed with ill intension to corrupt people in any manner of life. Usually, those jealous of one’s good reputation go all out to pressure the well behaved person into devil’s nature of human beings. Christians are to be on their guards.
PRAYER:
FATHER, open the spiritual eyes of Christians and the churches to discover those sent from the pit of hell into their circles to corrupt them in the name of Jesus Christ. Pray also, asking God never to allow you fall flat to the pressures of peer group members in Jesus name.
bishopubaudenyi@hopealivechurch