Pontius
Pilate conducted an opinion poll about what to do with Jesus. His
approval ratings were down, so he asked the crowd whether to release Jesus or
the murderer Barabbas. The chief priests stirred up the crowd and pressured him
to release Barabbas. “And wishing to
satisfy the multitude, Pilate released Barabbas” (Mark 15:15). Pilate
wanted to be popular more than he wanted to be right. And many
people today are more interested in being popular than standing up for the
truth. Here’s how to overcome peer pressure.
1. Be more concerned about what God
thinks of you than what people think.
It’s not
poplar to follow Jesus and you’ll be ridiculed for standing up for what you
believe. To have courage, you must be convinced that the Bible is true and
everything Jesus taught is the truth. Jesus never took an opinion poll. We
never see Jesus asking, “How am I doing? What is my approval rating?” He was
only interested in pleasing His Father.
2. Your inner strength must be greater
than the outward pressure to conform.
If I squeeze
a cracker it will crumble because the outward pressure is greater than the
cracker’s strength. But if I squeeze a baseball it won’t crumble because it’s
stronger than the pressure being applied. Pilate thought Jesus was innocent, but
he didn’t believe it enough to overcome the pressure applied by the angry crowd.
He crumbled because he wasn’t strong in his convictions.
3. Realize that everyone will be held
accountable to God. You
and everyone else will one day stand face-to-face with the living God. “They
are surprised that you do no run with them…and they malign you, but they
will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead”
(1 Peter 4:4-5). Keep an eternal perspective and don’t cave in to them. God’s
approval is the only approval rating that matters. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com www.makinglifecount.net
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BIBLE STUDY: “The Dual Prophecy of the Virgin Birth” (Isaiah’s
prophecy was fulfilled at two different times)
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