Stand Out From the Crowd – Part 2 Exodus 23:2 Mark D. Roberts writes: ‘in junior high, a boy named Andrew was the classic nerd: overweight, thick glasses; skin so white it seemed he’d never been outside. One day some of the boys began teasing Andrew and making fun of his appearance. I saw the pain in his eyes and knew I should tell the other guys to knock it off. But I saw an opportunity to be aligned with the in-crowd. So I joined in; adding my taunts as Andrew began to cry. In my heart I knew I’d done a terrible thing. Sometimes the temptation to “follow the crowd” is almost more than we can bear. We crave acceptance to such an extent that we do what we know is wrong so others will like us. This is true not only for insecure junior high boys, but for just about everybody. It’s hard to stand up to the crowd.’ Jesus wasn’t ruled by people’s opinions. Even His critics acknowledged He was a man of integrity and wasn’t swayed by others (Matthew 22:16). When you know who you are in Christ it frees you from the need to impress. Paul writes, ‘Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God’ (Romans 12:2). As painful as it is to be criticized, it’s far worse to give up the course God has for you just for acceptance. At some point you must ask, ‘How much am I willing to lose in order to be accepted?’ Can you take the pressure? Will you be like Nehemiah who said, ‘I am doing a great work, so I cannot come down’ (Nehemiah 6:3).
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 12:51:51 +0000
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