Politicians sometimes decide issues on the basis of majority pressure rather than on the principle of right and wrong. Some time ago a state governor declared that he personally believes abortion is wrong. But he said that as a public official he would support the will of the majority.
Pilate acted in much the same way regarding Jesus. Although he knew there was no truth to the charges leveled against Christ, he caved in to the pressure of the crowd. Consequently his name is recorded in infamy.
Few of us are in the position of appointed and elected officials who must please the majority to keep their jobs. Yet we are subject to the same kind of pressure. A Christian college student told me that one day he was driving three companions home after a football game. They wanted to stop at a bar known for indecent activities, but he didn’t want to. The three students came from good homes and were popular at college. He wanted to please them, and he felt tremendous pressure to go against his conscience. For a moment he hesitated, but with the Lord’s help he resisted the temptation and drove instead to a family restaurant.
Lord, help us to resist majority pressure when it would lead us down the path of sin.
— Herbert Vander Lugt
If we would do what’s good and right,
We must be true within;
If we give in to what is wrong
We dull our sense of sin. —DJD
Unless we rely on God’s power within us, we will yield to the pressures around us.