The fear of the man brings a snare, but whoever trust in the Lord shall be safe. —Proverbs 29:25

You’ve probably heard a lot of people talk about “peer pressure.” Our friends and acquaintances are our peers. Sometimes our friends help us to do good things, but other times they encourage us to things that aren’t so good; sometimes they’re even bad. We refer to this as peer pressure. Peer pressure can be good or bad.

Good peer pressure is something that encourages you. It could be offering to help when you see a need, looking for good in others and speaking kindly to them, telling the truth always, obeying parents and other adults in authority, loving your brother and sister, and going to church regularly.

Bad peer pressure is something that drives you to do things you should not do. It could be a friend tempting you not to get your homework or chores done, a friend trying to keep you from going to church. It could be not praying or reading the Bible or pushing other kids around. Bad peer pressure could be blaming someone else for something you do or lying about someone.

Bad peer pressure can harm someone’s walk with the Lord. We should strive to use only good peer pressure and stay away from people who use bad peer pressure.

Pray for God to help you to be a good example to your friends. Pray for the Lord to help protect you from bad peer pressure and give you the strength to say “no.”

Examples of good peer pressure:

Peer

Encourage

Speak

Kindly

Clean

Helpful

Truth

Share

Develop

Obedient

Obedient

Good

Attitude

Music

Arts

Sports

Business

Talents