People have a tendency to go with the popular vote.  What others think has a big influence on the majority of people in the world.  My wife, Debbie wasn’t like that.  I admired her for that trait.  She had the uncanny ability to stand up against the crowd for what she believed.  She didn’t really care if she stood alone as long as she felt sure she was standing on her principles.

            I’m not like that.  I can stand up for what I know is true in the Bible.  But I have found myself many times going with the crowd and the popular opinion.  In that I think I’m like most of the population.  It’s more comfortable going with the flow.  I wish I could be more like Debbie in this trait.

            In the army it was always a good idea to go with the crowd.  Especially in basic training, when the sergeant asked for volunteers it was always best to step back with those who didn’t volunteer.  I got the bright idea once of volunteering to help at breakfast.  Every morning the drill sergeant would ask for volunteers to help serve the food to the soldiers in our platoon.  All those who didn’t volunteer (which included most of us) got to do pushups as punishment for not volunteering while we waited in the chow line.  Afterwards when we finally got our food the drill sergeant would go around shouting at everyone to hurry up and “choke it down.”  I got tired of that and reasoned that if I volunteered then I’d have more time to eat because when we got back outside in formation we always had to wait for those who had volunteered to join us.  So one day I volunteered even though I was counseled to never volunteer for anything.

            I didn’t have to do pushups that day.  I served at my duty station cheerfully even though the regular kitchen help was always yelling at us about the serving sizes.  Then it was my turn to eat.  Guess what; the drill sergeant started yelling at the volunteers the minute they sat down.  We didn’t get more time to eat but less time!  It was a bummer, let me tell you.  Needless to say, that was my first and last time to volunteer.  From that day forward I was happy to do a few pushups outside in the chow line.  I chose to go with the crowd.

            When Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on the donkey colt the people lined the streets laying down their outer garments and palm leaves along the way.  They gave Jesus the royal treatment.  The Bible doesn’t tell us this but I’d say that human nature had a lot of people who maybe didn’t even like Jesus doing what the crowd was doing.

            A few days later, after Judas had betrayed Jesus and He was standing before Pilate who was deciding what to do with Him, a large crowd had gathered.  Again the Bible doesn’t tell us, but also again, knowing human nature, a lot of people were probably there who had welcomed Jesus just a few days earlier.  The Jewish leaders had secretly hired a mob of men to insist that Jesus be crucified.  They began the chant, “Crucify Him; crucify Him.”  As they chanted a large portion of the crowd began to chant with them.  Before long many voices were crying out, “Crucify Him; crucify Him!”  They went with the crowd.

            Often we are guilty of the same thing.  We must be very careful that we don’t side with the popular opinion.  Just because most people are saying or doing whatever it may be doesn’t make it right.  We have a tendency to vote with the majority.  When something popular begins to circulate through the Church often we don’t take time to make sure it’s Biblical or what God really wants but because the majority thinks it to be a good idea we just join in with the crowd.

            Jesus never joined in with the crowd.  Neither did Paul.  It cost both of them their lives.  But they were right.  So are we going to join the crowd just because it’s the popular thing to do or are we going to stand on what we know to be the truth?

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.?  Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.