| Under
Pressure By Wesley Kim |
||
 Back in the days of peer pressure… |
There are some things that come with the territory and peer pressure is
guaranteed to be a part of student’s life. I was very easily persuaded to
do the wrong things early in my life, but when I came to know Christ, he
saved me from a lot of the temptations that I faced. I’m not writing this
article to say you will be victorious over every challenge, because you
know it doesn’t come automatically if you know Christ. We all fall short
of the glory of God, but we can definitely find the light after any problem. Early in my high school experience I was sucked into the pressure of finding the right kind of friends, the people everybody thought were cool. I, for one was not going to be labeled as a nerd, geek, or dork. So I quickly used my wit and charm as well as some help from my bullying tactics to |
|
| make
friends with a group of friends that were considered cool. I was going to
see them every day for the next five years, and they quickly became my best
friends. We did everything together. Go to the movies, play road hockey,
shop, look at girls in the mall, hang out, and party. It’s kind of funny
to think that I never knew the hold they had on me. When I came to know Christ after ninth grade, I found Jesus and everything changed from that point on. I looked at my life and everything I did was against my Savior. The Lord was changing me daily and I had to deal with a lot of issues in my life. By this time all my friends took notice of the changes I was going through. They asked things like "Hey Wesley, why don’t you drink with us anymore, Hey Wesley, how come you don’t swear anymore, or Hey Wesley, why don’t you beat up people anymore?" When I shared with them what happened to me, many of them respected my change, but many of the same people believed it was only a phase. So every day I was asked to go drinking with them, or smoke dope, or anything else they happened to be doing that night. Many times I had to say no and to tell you the truth, it was not easy. I wanted so badly to be with my friends but I also knew what was good and the things that these guys asked me to do were not in accordance to the Lord’s will. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I would give in to the temptation and go out with them to clubs so I can dance with beautiful looking girls. Yet, in my heart I knew it grieved my Lord. I must have repented hundreds of times for that one. Luckily, God had a plan. Slowly I began to hang out with my friends at church more often and before I realized what had happened they were my best friends and they continue to be my best friends today. Now I have people in my life that desired to help me with my journey with God. Soon, I was able to be more and more victorious over the strongholds that kept me from God. I still face many today but with friends like Esther, Rick, and Ray, as well as the rest of the church, I feel encouraged to do the right things. There are so many problems we face today and pressure to do what your friends are doing is only one small problem. I only want to encourage you |
||
| to use every resource the Lord has given you to do the right thing and not the thing that satisfies your sinful desires. You’re not going to win every battle, but if you’re struggling, take it as a good sign. It shows you know you want to do the right thing. It’s when you don’t know, or even worse, don’t care you’re doing the wrong thing you should take notice. That is a very dangerous situation to be in. Learn to love what is good. |  |
|
 |
|
|
Next
Page