Youth · Day 2 of 5
Choose Your Crowd
Read: Proverbs 1:8-19 (KJV)
8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 9For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. 10My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. 11If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: 12Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: 13We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: 14Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: 15My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: 16For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. 17Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. 18And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. 19So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Read the whole chapter ›What it means
Proverbs is written like a father talking to his son, and here he gets very direct. 'My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.' To entice means to lure, to make something look appealing. Peer pressure rarely sounds like 'Come do something terrible with us.' It usually sounds like fun, belonging, and excitement. The group in this passage says, 'Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse.' In other words, join us and you will be one of us. That is the real pull. Most people do not go along with the wrong crowd because they love doing wrong. They do it because they want to belong. The father's advice is simple: 'walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path.' Sometimes standing firm means not even putting yourself in the situation. The passage ends with a sobering point. The people who set a trap for others end up trapping themselves. Bad choices made together still have consequences for each person. This does not mean you should be unkind to people who make poor choices. Jesus loved sinners and spent time with them. But there is a difference between loving people and letting them lead you. Choose friends who make you better, and be that kind of friend.
Key verse
“My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.”
Proverbs 1:10 (KJV)
Journal it
- Have you ever done something mainly because you wanted to belong? What happened?
- Who are the people who pull you closer to God, and who are the people who pull you away?
- What is one situation you could avoid this week to make standing firm easier?
Write your answers in a notebook or the notes app on your phone.