Jumping into the River

I was asked to write about the temptations of going with the crowd rather than staying true to my beliefs. Well for one thing it is a great challenge. I am constantly tempted to just act like everyone else so I don't stand out. With that in mind I want to stand out to be able to reach more people with what I believe in. There are many different things that I am tempted with that would just make me like everyone else. For example; smoking, swearing, sex, alcohol, etc. These things are ever present in my mind and in the people that I am around. These things seem so harmless and fun that it would be easy to be swayed if everyone else is doing it. A simple analogy of this is with a river. Over the summer I went on a trip called Lightrider. In this trip we went whitewater rafting. At one point in time we were allowed to jump out of the rafts and swim in the low current of the river. At first I was hesitant because I did not know what dangers lay beneath the surface of the water. After a while most everyone was in the water but me. After I saw lots of my friends were in I felt like if everyone was doing it I might as well. Although this analogy has an extreme jump to get to my meaning, it still shows the problems in being part of the crowd. You want to stay with your beliefs but then you see everyone else is doing these fun things. You want to "jump" in with it because you think that you will have fun. However the problem is that you are compromising what your beliefs are and just assimilating into what people want you to be. This is why I see that it is important to stay with what I believe in and to not sway from those beliefs.

Now for those who have already started or have been in the crowd. There is still hope, there is always hope. First you need to decide whether you are going to be committed to change your way of living to what you should be living according to God. Once you have decided you should stop doing the things you know are wrong or sinful. From my viewpoint, I see it as a great testimony to those around you. Think about what your friends would experience and see what is happening to you. They would constantly be asking what or why you are changing. I am not saying that it will be easy to change or take the questions and possible dirty looks, but you will be able to turn your life around and show those around you that you are different from everyone else.

I hope these words show you the significance of being yourself and being true to what you believe in and not joining the crowd because of what they are doing.