I’ve tried saying “no” to my friends, but I keep getting in trouble. What should I do?
Swimming against the current requires a lot of strength. It is always easier to just go with the flow. For this reason, it is important that your closest friends flow the right direction. You must surround yourself with the right kind of friends—friends who challenge you to daily live your life for Christ (adapted from Peer Pressure, p. 57).
As much as you will hate it, you should pull out of the group. You cannot claim to follow Christ and continue to compromise.
First Peter 2:12 says, “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
If you keep your behavior excellent, your friends may one day glorify God. If you compromise, your friends will never see any difference between your life and theirs. If they don’t, what motivation will they have to become followers of Christ themselves?
Taken from The Teenage Q&A Book, pg. 193
Question: In the end, what will be more important? What your friends think of you (if you’re still friends when you’re adults) or what God thinks of you?
Question: Can you think of anyone, outside of your current group of friends, that might turn out to be a friend if you tried? What should you do next to make that happen?
