Ezra 10: Peer Pressure or Not!

I can’t believe this is the last chapter of Ezra. “Now while Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly… gathered to him… for the people wept very bitterly.” Ezra 10:1 NKJV

Right from the start, what stood out was how Ezra’s repentance pulled others into repentance too. We talk so often about how contagious sin is… but repentance spreads just as quickly. A soft heart can influence an entire group.

It took me straight back to being a teenager. Doing the right thing always felt easier when you had one friend willing to stand there with you. And truthfully, that doesn’t change when you grow up. Even now, as a mom and a leader, I see the power of one person going first-- one person’s conviction shifts the whole atmosphere. That’s influence friend! Some people call it peer pressure when it pulls others in the wrong direction, but it’s still influence either way.

Influence is real. The question is simply what direction it’s taking people.

Reading this made me realize this is a conversation I want to have with my kids — because whether we like the word or not, every single one of us is an influencer to somebody.

• What kind of influencer do you want to be?

• Who gets stronger because of your example… and who gets weaker?

• Where is your life pulling people toward God?

• And where might it be pulling them away?