You look at the plastic cup of beer being offered to you. Should you accept it? You were taught by your parents, pastor, and teachers that underage drinking is a sin, yet you still really want that evil red cup full of poison.

Your “friends” push the cup into your hand. “It’s not like one little beer is going to hurt you,” they say.

Now you are having an internal struggle. You will look cool if you just drank it. One beer can’t hurt, and who will know? Your stomach clenches. Maybe your parents won’t find out . . . but Jesus will know. You try to give the cup back.

“Don’t be such a pansy,” they tell you.

Now you don’t want your friends to think that you are a pansy. What if everyone will think that? Jesus will always forgive you, right? Yeah. You take the beer and drink it.

How many times have you been in a similar situation? Maybe it wasn’t drinking. Maybe it was being talked into letting someone cheat off your test. Maybe it was when your friends got you to shoplift, use drugs, or just break some of the rules.

Peer pressure is hard to deal with because it comes from our friends and others that are just like us. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak” (Matthew 26:41). Our sinful nature and the world teach us that doing wrong things just to be popular is fine, but in actuality it’s not.

You may be asking yourself, “What should I do?” There is one thing that you can do: look to Jesus. He is always going to be there for you. He will help you through all the challenges that you face. He will be there to guide you through the rough patches in life. “He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber” (Psalm 121:3).

Easier said than done, right? Well, I have experienced my fair share of peer pressure, and nothing good has ever come out of it. I have had my struggles, and I thought that people wouldn’t like me if I didn’t do what they told me to do. But I was wrong. After I asked Jesus to help me and sought advice from my parents, I was able to overcome peer pressure, and I still have friends.