People Pressure

Read: 1 Kings 12:1-17

Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. --- Proverbs 16:19

The Bible In One Year:
1 Corinthians 5-8

The desire for the approval of others makes us do strange things. We wear clothing that is fashionable whether we like it or not, we accept invitations we would rather decline, and we work much harder than we want to for a level of financial success we don't need. Most regrettably, however, we sometimes choose to follow a crowd that encourages us to do what is wrong.

In 1 Kings 12, we read about King Rehoboam, who also succumbed to people pressure. He rejected the good advice of older wise men who had known his father Solomon and the mistakes he had made as king. Rehoboam listened instead to the counsel of his peers, younger advisors with whom he had grown up. They were probably motivated by pride and a desire for power, and he was obviously swayed by their influence. How dearly he paid for his mistake!

People pressure --- we are all influenced by it. It bears down on us from all directions. But we can choose the path we will take. If we are swayed by the proud or by those who love money, live for pleasure, or long for power, people pressure will lead us down the path that ends in destruction. But if we heed the counsel of those who are humble, good, and godly, we will follow the way that pleases God. --- Herb Vander Lugt

"Seek ye first" not earth's aspirings,
Ceaseless longings, vain desirings,
But your precious soul's requirings ---
"Seek ye first!" --- Anon.

THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE CROWD SOON BECOME PART OF THE CROWD.