Following a Crowd

 Part of our human nature is that we want to be accepted by other people. We have an inner drive to be popular and to have people like us. This is part of what God built into us. We have a need for relationships. However, this desire for acceptance can lead us away from God and His will. We must be careful not to let this happen to us.

God warned the children of Israel about this. (Exodus 23:2) He commanded them not to follow a crowd to do evil. He commanded them not to testify in a dispute as as to turn aside after a crowd to pervert justice. God gave these commanded because He knew we would be tempted in this way. We must set our hearts never to follow a crowd, but to always seek the Lord, so we follow His will and not the will of others.

This begins to be a huge temptation for us when we are adolescents. We are learning and growing in our ability to reason, but we don't have much experience to base our judgments on. Therefore, we tend to listen to our friends, and we don't want to upset them, so we go along to get along. This leads youth to take drugs, drink alcohol, to cheat, and to do all kinds of sinful things. Once we start that pattern it is hard to break it, but we must.

As adults, and especially as Christians, we must be more concerned about justice and righteousness than about being accepted by others. We must turn our hearts to being accepted by God. Then, we will do what pleases God instead of following a crowd to do the wrong thing. When we are accepted by God and following Him, we will have the best life we can have. Following the crowd leads to misery, not happiness.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Exodus 26-28.