How places and people can change us……..

Peer pressure is not always as blatant as ‘I won’t be your friend if you won’t do this!’ or ‘Come on! Everyone’s doing it! Stop being such a coward!’.

Peer pressure can be much more subtle than that. Being in a foreign land can change us.

When I lived in France for a year as a student and had to communicate largely in French, I discovered a new me. I felt set free from my background and traditions in a fresh way, more so than when I had moved away to university. I was immediately seen as special and interesting, even before I opened my mouth, just because I was English. Being in a completely alien environment changes a person. It sharpens up their identity, allowing them to let go and hold onto what they want of their former life.

Here’s another example. When we went on holiday to Turkey, which was completely beautiful, yes, we took ourselves and all our emotional baggage with us, but the place itself changed us. Waking up to the morning sun every day made our spirits soar. The heat melted our stresses away. We slowed into a new, relaxed pace of barely moving at all. We went with the flow. I loved that version of me (and look forward to meeting her again next summer).

A foreign land doesn’t necessarily mean a foreign land of course. It can mean a completely new situation or alien environment. When I started work at Asda sixteen months ago, I hadn’t been out to work for a very long time. I had not worn a uniform before. I had never worked in a large shop before. I had never clocked in or been on a rota or taken breaks at fixed times or needed £1 for a locker every day. I embraced it wholeheartedly. This job came at a time when my home life was particularly stressful and it was the best thing for me at that time. No one knew me or any of my baggage. I could choose how much to say or whether to say nothing at all. My mobile phone was in my locker and I was not contactable. For a whole shift, I could concentrate on the task in front of me that I could actually manage and forget about all the stuff at home that I was not coping well with at all. It was strangely liberating. I was happy there. I still am. Working at Asda has changed me. Being in a new environment does that to a person.

This kind of change is often subtle and imperceptible and not always good. We are often the last person to notice any change within ourselves. But the places where we spend the most time will change us. If everyone around us swears a lot, then we may become more comfortable with swearing. If all our friends love nothing more than a good bitch, then we may become more comfortable with bitching. If it’s the norm to get mortal on a night out, then we we may become more comfortable with drinking to excess. If all our friends are always buying new clothes, then we we may become more comfortable with over-spending. If the girls at work have a mental scoring system for the ‘fitness’ of the lads, then we we may become more comfortable with looking at other men in that way. If everyone is talking about the latest erotic book or gruesome horror film, then we we may become more comfortable with reading and seeing unhelpful material.

Sometimes being the newbie or the outsider can be uncomfortable. We can want to belong and feel that we fit in and are accepted so much that we are prepared to compromise ourselves.

I’m not judging, you understand. Only you can know what you are comfortable with and how that has changed because of your environment and whether you are happy with that or not.

This could be what happened to Israel, as the Israelites are now called, in Moab. We saw how they got settled there yesterday in Andy’s great donkey post . And now they are there – in Shittim (naturally!) – and the men start to notice the Moabite women. They do more than notice them. They ‘indulge in sexual immorality’ with them. These women then invite them to the sacrifices to their gods. These men are on a slippery slope. The Israelite men eat the sacrificial meal and bow down before these gods.

Really? Could their really forget their recent history and their jealous God so easily?

But what harm would it do? Everyone was doing it and it looked like a lot of fun. ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans’ and all that. Come on! Live a little! After all you’ve been through, you deserve to have a good time!

God is not amused. He is beyond angry.

And the Lord’s anger burned against them.  Numbers 25:3

The leaders of these people are to be held responsible. They should have known better. They are to be killed and ‘exposed to the sunlight’ – impaled, exposed, hung down, left dangling over a cliff, unburied……whatever means used is unclear, but clearly unpleasant.

These slippery slopes we find ourselves on can end up in a bad place before we know it. There are consequences to be faced.

As I said at the start, peer pressure is not just for kids. It is not always blatant. It can be subtle and imperceptible and not always good.

Let’s be aware of that today.

And on that note, I am off to start my shift at 8am! Byeeeee!