There is something, mostly manifested in high school, that remains buried deep inside the souls of many adults who were rejected, abandoned, or bullied. This insidious enemy remains staunchly defended by the ‘cool kids’ and ‘elites’ of society and is a powerful part of exclusive clubs, hyper-expensive brands, politics of all philosophies, and religions.
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The sole purpose of this socio-religious machination is to strip a person/people of their individual identity while conforming them to the group’s identity. This soul-level uniformity ultimately forces each individual to feel shameful and insecure for having had to compromise their beliefs. But these pawns in an insidious chess match eventually are made to fall into line or be cast back out.
“The notion that my value is determined by society’s valuation system based on how well I obey their commands is merely an illusion that I don’t have to accept.”
FITTING IN
Peer pressure is a maleficent manifestation of manipulation through conformity. The idea is to exclude those who are not “like them” while celebrating those who are. It’s the ultimate “Us vs. Them” mentality. This ideology has permeated our lives no matter the level of “empowerment” programs we undertake while schools, regardless of the rhetoric of “anti-bullying” posters, meetings, and assemblies they have, remain Petri dishes of peer pressure toxicity.
This is why status symbols have permeated the culture. People have tried to bypass the process of fighting for position within the construct of norms and mores and gotten right to the heart of the issue by making status ‘purchasable.’ There are even people who try to gain street cred by buying a look off the internet and passing themselves off as someone they are not. You probably know someone like that.
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There is a significant level of peer pressure in mankind’s social hierarchy. Even major corporations have caved in to peer pressure from government officials. We all want to belong to a group, tribe, or famiglia. God gave human beings a deep-seated desire for relationship. You might call it a desire for ‘belonging.’
For many people, belonging to a large, more powerful group equates to personal significance and relief from alienation. A person’s sense of well-being goes off-kilter once a systematic dependence to the peer group defines all phases of one’s life as opposed to one’s job or friendships.
Interestingly enough, if each person were to address these issues in prayer, God would immediately get to work exposing the real issue: rejection and abandonment. If we don’t acknowledge our wounds/problems before God, how will we ever get them healed/solved?
BULLYING
The remarkable thing I’ve witnessed on many occasions is bullying. If you hadn’t noticed, some organizations have fortified by a bully culture. BLM, Antifa, Communists/Socialists, and the like are attempting to bully people not in their social groups to conform to their wishes, as has been the habit of any people conforming to the verbiage contained in the book, “Rules for Radicals.”
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Ridicule is a powerful weapon against others and Jesus never used it. He never ridiculed a single human being. When people came to Him, He always sought to help them, not harm them in the least.
Ridicule has been utilized to pressure people to conform ever since teasing became a part of human behavior. Public humiliation is an awful part of humanity, yet people use it to create division/enemies around the world. Fraternities and sororities, and even sports teams, have hazed candidates and rookies for eons. Using ridicule, guilt, and shame has always been a tactic of the devil.
Bullying has also been utilized by manipulators for millennia. If the people jockeying for position are trying to rule the roost, they will often use intimidation to get their way.
It amazes me how many bullies get away with picking on kids in schools. Teachers and administrators will often try to ignore the situation instead of getting involved and disciplining the kids. These bullying episodes are opportunities for the adults to share their wisdom, guidance, and hope for each student, but they often come away as embarrassments to the school system, so they try and sweep them under the proverbial rug.
Even the teachers and administrators get caught up in peer pressure in these moments because they don’t want to have the district come down on them for a legal problem. If the school administration would simply stand up and help the kids learn from these moments, it would be a win-win for us all. As it stands, as bullies are not disciplined or punished, the culture shows it is willing to support the bullies and not the kids who get picked on. No wonder there are kids with depression!
Secular society clearly is devoid of any real answers as to how to help people deal with interpersonal conflict. Fortunately, Jesus knows how to solve any problem, we just need to make sure we enact His answers with prayer and productive, loving grace. “Faith without [corresponding] works is dead.”
CONCLUSION
As with all satanic attacks on our souls, there are valid reasons to consider them reasonably safe or even harmless compared to the opportunity to gain some sort of advantage or financial gain. Some people even consider terminating the life of their child compared to the lure of financial stability too much to resist. Regardless the circumstances, God’s way is always the best way. He makes it clear we are to ‘love our neighbor as ourselves,’ and, clearly, exerting peer pressure on others — and vice versa — is not something God wants us to be a part of.
Never allow others to use peer pressure (or anything) to taint your relationship with God. No matter what it is, I can tell you it’s not worth it.
Prayer
Father God, You love humanity so very much. It grieves Your heart to see Your children fight and manipulate each other — and that’s just inside the Church! The world desperately needs more of You. I need more of You in my life. There are many people hoping to change the world for evil purposes and I find myself at incredible odds to make a significant difference. Help me help others, my Lord! Please forgive me for the times I chose to hurt or manipulate others by peer pressure — by words and deeds. I also choose to forgive those who have hurt me by applying peer pressure to me to try to get me to do their will. Mankind needs more people like Jesus. Help me to be Jesus for others, Lord! I surrender my whole life to you, my Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
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