Friends can deter or spur.
The article brought up the point I'm trying to make here - friends can also use peer pressure in a positive way. Just recently I've noticed this taking place in my own life. I've placed myself around people who are smarter, wiser, and more talented than I am - always seeking to better themselves. As a result I've derived new standards for myself, including the depth of my walk with God! The important thing to note here is that we only get from our friends what we see in them.
Wise people choose wise friends.
Here is where, as youth ministers, we need to teach our youth how to see through their friends to their true motives, characteristics, and desires. We need to teach them how to pick friends that will inspire and help them to succeed in life and their relationship with God. Perhaps the best way to teach our students this lesson is to be transparent with them about times we haven't done this well in the past.
If we're not honest, they won't open up.
It goes without saying, but our students are affected by their friends more now than ever. They're constantly seeking approval and wanting to fit in. Let's help them to find friends that define 'fitting in' as seeking after God and His heart in an unstable time.
God, help us.
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I really like your point of view on this topic. I like how you said we as youth ministers need to be teaching youth to see through their friends. That's really important and quite frankly something I never really thought about before!
ReplyDeleteI like how you turned the negative view most people think of when we talk about peer pressure to something positive. Peer pressure can be positive, like you said, and I think it's really important to express that to our youth. Picking our friends and who we surround ourselves with is so important and I appreciate your emphasis on that. Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your positive perspective on peer pressure. I totally agree that peer pressure can be a good thing and we as youth leaders are able to help the students see this. We tend to focus so much on the negative affects. If anything we could encourage Christian students to pressure their friends to do good things and abstain from the bad. Great job!
ReplyDeleteYes. Yes. Yes. This is one thing that I've always wanted to understand better. Peer pressure isn't always bad! We need to start pursuing and teaching students, not to avoid peer pressure, but to seek out the healthy peer pressure. Because, lets face it, it's unavoidable.
ReplyDelete