How Do I Stand for My Faith When Everyone Disagrees?

Peer pressure is a real thing! It’s no fun to be in the minority.

Several years ago, God had been working in my life in some significant ways, and I was sensing that He wanted me to propose something bold and even daring to a Christian organization that I was a part of (not my local church). So, after earnest prayer and soul-searching, one evening during our regularly scheduled board meeting, I took a big gulp (figuratively and maybe literally!) and proposed something really big… a boldly controversial thing. It was the thing that some had whispered about in quiet conversation, but no one had ever officially proposed.

The response?
Silence.

It felt like I might as well have been proposing that we all move to Mars and start a new colony! Martian evangelism aside (kidding!), while my proposal went over like a lead balloon, and we have since moved on to other things, I look back at that time as a very healthy experience for me. In all honesty, I think it was a good challenge for the organization, too. I needed the courage to bring up a big, out-of-the-box idea, and they needed to be challenged.

You see, my personality and natural gifting are to be a team player. I prize loyalty, respect for authority, and group cohesion. That is good as long as it's balanced. It can be a weakness, however, when the desire to be a team player leads to fear of others’ opinions and, worst of all, compromising the truth. God used that opportunity to help me become more fearless in expressing my opinions and standing up for what I believed in, whether or not others approved! It’s hard to be different! Like it or not, we are heavily influenced by those around us.

In the book Crucial Conversations, there is this money quote: “We’ve equated
approval with safety and disapproval with danger.” [1] While this book is written from a secular perspective, it correctly notes that there are these defining moments where saying the right thing, not the easy thing, makes all the difference. Yes, I get it! We all like safety. We all like to fit in and have everyone nod approvingly at who we are and what we do. However, Proverbs 29:25 warns us, “The fear of man lays a snare.”

In Daniel 3, we read of 3 people who stood up for God in a way that has impacted all of history. They, of course, were not merely expressing an unusual idea or controversial proposal; they were putting their very lives on the line! The king was angry, the fire was hot (and growing hotter!), and the crowd was not on their side. But for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the decision was clear and firm. If God would deliver, wonderful! If God would not deliver, however, EVEN THEN, they would stand for truth.

Today, where do you need to stand for truth? What do you need to stand for truth
in? And who do you need to stand in truth for?

In conclusion, let me give you some life hacks about when to stand and when to
blend in.

1. STAND when your relationship with God is being tested. That’s non-
   negotiable. I hear Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saying AMEN!
2. BLEND IN when it’s merely your personal feelings or preferences or
   personality. Romans 14 and other passages say a lot about this.
3. STAND when the weak and vulnerable are being impacted. The Old
   Testament Minor Prophets would agree!
4. BLEND IN when you don’t know all the facts yet, and the time is just not
   right to speak out. Proverbs 18:13 and 29:20 would have something to say
   about that!

Yes, peer pressure is powerful. However, God was greater than Nebuchadnezzar, and He is greater than any pressure or fear you are feeling today! Do the right thing, not the easy thing.

¹ Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, and Emily Gregory,
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, 3rd ed. (New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2022), 223.