DEALING WITH PEER PRESSUREDuke Jeyaraj Hershelle Gibbs was done in by peer pressure. When his Captain Hansie Cronje - someone he adored and looked upto - asked him to play badly - to underperform - in a cricket match in the fifth one-day international against India in Nagpur on March 19, 2000, if he was interested in pocketing $ 15,000 he was shell shocked! Stunned. Startled. For one, Hansie Cronje was professed to be a follower of Christ, a profession he did not share. Second, as a Cape-colored young player in the predominantly white South African cricket team, he did not expect his white captain, whom he revered to single him out to apply peer pressure. Third, having come from a disadvantaged background this offer seemed like a temptation too mouth-watering to resist. Gibbs caved into the peer pressure exercised by his captain on him. I just thought, If an outspoken follower of Jesus, in his backsliden state and stupor, could apply peer pressure on an unbeliever, you can imagine the amount of peer pressure that can come from unbelievers on believers! Peer pressure. Each day it jabs at you as you rub shoulders with your pals at High School. Time and again it nudges you as you walk hands on shoulder with your buddies at College. Repeatedly it bumps into you as you as jostle with the people at your work-spot. There are friends in your world that pressure almost force you, prod you to do things that you pretty well won't please the Lord. "There's nothing wrong if you have a puff," your comrade goads you as he thrusts a Cigarette into your hands. "A sip of Rum won't rub away your saintliness," your associate remarks in an attempt to make you somehow join him in drinking. "What's your opinion on Him? Come on speak up!" your mates coax you to join their round table conference where nothing but backbiting and gossip is going on. "If you are really a man you should be able to use those four-letter words!" you are told by you companion.
