As a child of God, you’re going to have to get used to standing alone. In a crowded room, you may be the only one holding your faith. In a group of friends, you may be the only one that doesn’t practice sin. It’s a part of life.
The herd mentality is hard to push back against, though. Whenever a group of people engage in something, it’s so much easier to simply go with the flow. We derive a sort of validation from the fact that lots of people are doing something. Surely the approval of hundreds of people carries more weight than just my stance, right?
This is exactly the type of mentality that God tells us to fight against. As Christians, we need to have the strongest moral compass of all. That’s one of the reasons why Paul blasts the church at Corinth for taking their personal disputes before courts of law (1 Corinthians 6:1-11). Shouldn’t those who have Christ as their head have the best sense of judgment?
What makes the herd mentality even more difficult is the fact that it grows and accumulates power over time. If two people believe something, a third will weigh the opinion of the two over their own. That creates a group of three that believe something, which carries more weight. Four people creates even more validation, as does ten people, and hundreds even more so. Over time, the power of public opinion is like a snowball that you can’t stop.
Scripture is riddled with all sorts of people who stood absolutely alone in their positions of Godliness. Job testifies that he never followed the multitude and kept silent about right or wrong (Job 31:33-35). David claimed he wouldn’t be scared of thousands of people that stood against him if God was on his side (Psalm 3:6).
In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus reminds everyone of the difference between the wide and the narrow gates. The reason one gate is wide is because it’s easier. It’s much more simple to just agree with everyone else—even if that path is wrong—than it is to stand out.
But remember: On judgment day, you won’t be judged as a group, you’ll be judged as an individual. You’re responsible for your actions regardless of influence.
After telling everyone emphatically to “not follow the crowd in doing evil,” God then gives two specific examples. The first is in “joining a crowd…to pervert justice,” while the second is “favoring the poor person in a dispute.” Both of those can be emotionally charged situations, but both of those require calm objectivity to mediate.
It’s not our own sense of right and wrong that makes these decisions, though—it’s God’s. Our lives are defined by His words, and what He says goes in every situation, regardless of how many people act to the contrary.
