“Peer pressure is like a pressure cooker. As more and more pressure is added, the more you start to scream.”
In our high school years, it’s almost impossible to escape peer pressure. And you have to manage such on a daily basis. In this case, you have to be smart on how you deal with your peers. But perhaps you’re not in high school. It’s still vital to find out how to deal with such troubles. It could be at our work place. Or our church. Or even our family. We can feel pressure from anyone. So let’s talk about it a little…
Let’s begin with the story of Job found in the bible. Job in the bible is presented as a pure and holy man. And he is blessed with a rich life. Things were going well until Satan approached God one day. Satan said Job is only a good person because he is blessed so much. As a result, God thinks He can prove Satan wrong. God removes his supernatural protection from Job. This allows for Job’s life to completely fall apart. His mansion is destroyed, his cattle and children are killed, and his wife leaves him among all this troubles. As we can expect, Job is devastated. Job’s friends come along, but they only make things worse. Job’s friends are convinced he has done something wrong and somehow deserves what has happened to him. This raises the question: Why does good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people? It’s a good question to ask.
This is important to address, so let’s examine this question with two different books of the bible. The first is Proverbs. We’ve mentioned this before in this ministry. The book of Proverbs talks about how there is order in the universe and that the good and wise naturally live healthy lives. The next book to talk about is the book of Ecclesiastes. It’s message is the polar opposite from Proverbs in that it talks about how difficult life is and how people’s outcomes are more from life’s randomness. Both the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are linked with the book of Job.
With that said, let’s look again at Job. Through all of the trouble and chaos, Job is left questioning God. Job knows he is innocent, and therefore feels he is being punished for nothing he has done. Even his friends are convinced he has done something wrong! This is important to note, so please listen. When all this chaos is taking place, Job states, “And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job knows that it is God who gives and takes away. So in this fog that Job is living in, he chooses to praise God. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t go through a roller coaster of emotions. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel bad. But Job is acknowledging that God is good and faithful. And we can take that lesson for ourselves.
Ultimately, God provides Job double all that Job had lost. But it’s important to note God isn’t rewarding Job at all. God had just proven Job’s goodness without the pleasures of life. Rather, God is blessing Job through His own goodness. In other words, God blesses Job simply because He wants to. And we can take that by faith.
All this ties into how we can “go against the tide” of this world. Through the book of Job, we know bad things can happen to good people. So it should be obvious to us that living a pure and holy life in this sinful world is going to be difficult. The whole world is a force that pushes towards sin and evil. We are called by Christ to push against this force. So what does the bible have to say about it?
Psalms 23:4 states, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” In, John 16:33, we are comforted with the words of Christ. He says we will go through difficult times in this world, but we are to be cheerful! Christ has overcome this world. Revelation 2:10 and Matthew 5:11–16 explain we will have heavenly rewards if we are willing to endure these trials. As the famous quote explains, “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” Difficult times make us learn and grow stronger in our faith. This can be found in James 1:2. You see, this world is like the titanic. It’s sinking. And God’s mission right now isn’t exactly focused on how to make people happy. Rather, it’s to get as many people as He can into lifeboats.
I want to leave you with one last lesson. Romans 12:2 explains this lesson. Don’t be affected by the ways of this world. Don’t let this world tear you up and put you down. Rather, have yourself affect the world in a way that will please Christ. Just a few verses later in Romans 12:21, it explains we are to not be overcome by evil. We are to overcome evil with good.