Following the crowd

I have a vague memory of something that happened when I was a kid. 

For some reason, some kids were teasing me about something, I can’t remember what.  And I remember one of my friend’s response. 

He kind of went next to me and said quietly, “I’m going to tease you too, but I don’t really mean it, okay?” 

I nodded, and he started teasing me too. 

It never really affected our relationship; for some reason I never held it against him. 

But looking back, that was an awful thing for a “friend” to do.  Instead of standing up for me and defending me, he followed the crowd.

Of course, I’ve done that kind of thing too. 

There were times when a person was unpopular in school, and I joined others in mocking them.  They weren’t my friends, but all the same, it was wrong.

God says here, “Don’t follow the crowd in doing what’s wrong.” 

He’s specifically talking about not following the crowd in perverting justice by spreading false testimony. 

He said, “Just because one man is spreading malicious reports and is trying to pervert justice, don’t you go and join him, even if many others are.”

I wrote about gossip and slander back when I talked about the ninth commandment, so I won’t really focus on that aspect of it so much.  But those are two areas where it’s especially easy to start following the crowd. 

One person starts badmouthing another, a second person joins in, and the whole thing snowballs. 

Soon you find yourself agreeing with everyone else and adding your own stories. 

This kind of thing can tear apart people and tear apart churches. 

How many times have churches fallen apart because someone starts criticizing the pastor, others start to join in, and the pastor finds himself under siege by his own church? 

God hates that, and he tells us, “Don’t join the crowd in spreading that kind of filth with your mouth.”

But this is true in every area of life. 

How often do we follow the crowd in doing wrong? 

How often do we use the excuse, “Well, everyone does it?”

That kind of excuse is no excuse at all.

God doesn’t want us to follow the crowd.  He wants us to follow him. 

Not just when we go to church.  But when we go to work.  When we’re at home.  Wherever we are.

How about you?  Who are you following?