Proverbs 1:10: My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them.
In this life the goal is to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. A committed believer wants to please God, and to become more like him. To become more like Jesus requires that we choose a path of purity and holiness. God is holy, so we must be holy.
One day I was praying for an entertainer. As I thought about the world of entertainment, I made the observation that the natural pull of the entertainment world is down. The pressure is there to be more worldly, sexier, cruder.
I believe that is a valid observation about the entertainment world, but the more I thought about it, I realized the natural pull of life is downward for all of us. To please God and to walk holy require desire, discipline and determination. We must resist the natural drift of life, which is away from God.
There is something vital that a believer can do to help achieve success in walking the highway of holiness. A believer should be surrounded by other believers who also desire to please God. In this context believers encourage one another in God, and provide strength for everyone in the group. The Word of God instructs us "to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together." In other words don't forget church. In the properly functioning church the believer finds strength for the journey.
Our text gives instruction to a person to prepare him for those who would entice him to sin. Especially among young people, much is said about peer presssure. Peer pressure is something that can affect a person of any age, but is a major factor among young people who are seeking acceptance.
So the writer is saying to his son, when your peers come to you and try to entice you to do evil, don't give in to them. Their way is flawed.
Satan is skilled in presenting sin as appealing. Satan will hype the temporary pleasure of sin, but he won't show you the consequences of sin. It is important to understand that sin never builds character. Sin never helps a person come closer to God. While obedience to God looses the life of God to work in us, sin looses the power of death to work in us.
We moved to Atlanta in 1992 when my children were 10 and 11. God led us to a small church. I had pastored small churches for years, and I wanted to join a big church. But I couldn't deny that the Holy Spirit was leading us to the smaller church.
After a couple of years my children became involved in the youth group of the church. Then the youth group joined together with several other churches to sponsor a youth camp each summer at a state park in Mississippi. Each year this camp provided a spiritual shot in the arm for the participants.
The youth group became like a family for my children. And the young people they met at camp each year became like an extended family to them.
Each year when the youth group returned from the camp, the pastor asked them to lead the Sunday morning service. They lead worship, and then they share about the workings of God in their lives during the week at camp. Over the years this particular service has become the highlight of the church year.
Over these years I began to notice a wonderful truth regarding my children's participation in the youth group and in the summer camp. The youth group provided a degree of peer pressure, but it was positive peer pressure. My children were faithful to the youth group, and God blessed them with friends who wanted to do right. Friends, who exerted a positive pressure to please God, not a negative pressure to do evil
Whether you are young or old, in this life we must deal with the enticement of sin. Wisdom dictates that we join ourselves to a group that will exert positive pressure on us to do the will of God.
Wayne L. Williams
wayne@fotwm.org