Peer Pressure
Wes Wick
A 102-year-old gentleman was asked by a friend, “What’s the best part of living past one hundred?”
We loved his response, said with a smirk... “No peer pressure.” :)
We tend to think of peer pressure as something mostly teens deal with, but it does creep in as an every-life-stage influence. Assigning the word “pressure” makes it sound unwelcoming and negative, but we can obviously be the source and recipient of positive peer influence, too.
Having an enthusiastic, effervescent love for Jesus is probably the best way to transmit this positive influence to our peers and others.
While we often emphasize through YES! the significance of intergenerational relationships, we trust you and we are finding special opportunities to also influence our peers.
May this year be full of fresh opportunities to make a God-glorifying difference through your love. We’re not all going to reach the century milestone, so peer influence will likely remain part of our lives. Let’s make the most of it.
And let’s allow God’s Word to help shape that love:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV)