Herd Mentality
Salvation, we know, is personal. We are not saved in bunches; we are not corporately brought into the kingdom of heaven (see Ezek. 14:20). In the end, we each will have to answer for our own deeds, not for the deeds of others (Rom. 14:12).
Nevertheless, most of us do not live in isolation. We are in contact with other people, and we influence others, just as we are influenced by them. It is just part of human nature, even unfallen human nature (see Gen. 3:6), that we influence one another, either for good or for evil. How unfortunate that, unless we are careful, the influences can be negative.
Read Luke 4:16-30. What happened here? Why did the people, as a group, act as they did? What led to the downfall of these would-be disciples?
Though at first they all marveled at His words, once those words became cutting, they turned, en masse, against Him. Imagine if some would-be disciple there, instead of succumbing to anger, submitted to the rebuke humbly. Who knows what his or her influence might have been on the others? Instead, it says that they all in the synagogue became angry, so angry that they tried to kill Him. No doubt each one's anger influenced another, and then another, until the whole synagogue, who had come there to worship the Lord, in a spasm of anger sought to kill Him instead. Had any one of these people encountered Jesus' rebuke on a one-to-one basis, they might have been angry, but most likely they would have walked away. Now, though, feeling the strength of a mob, they acted in a horrible way.
How easily influenced are you by the crowd, by the prejudices and teachings of your own society and culture? What practical steps could you take that could help protect you from the dangers of this herd mentality?
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