Hey guys! How are you guys? I hope you all had a great Christmas break! Sorry it's a little late, but here are the printable schedules for the Learn Luke Challenge in January!
Today I'd like to touch on a subject that I think is fairly important to have a right perspective on, in order to have a fulfilling quizzing experience.
There are a lot of different ways that quizzers motivate themselves to do well, but one I think is prominent, is considering (whether consciously or subconsciously) what other quizzers will think, whether they're from their team or from another. I.e. if the quizzer has done well, and therefore feels pressure to perform as well, or even better, in the future. Or, alternatively, if a quizzer feels as though people expect them to perform well for any other reason (like if they have an older sibling who quizzes well, or if they're on a team of experienced quizzers, or if they're from a competitive district), there are obviously lots of possibilities. Everyone knows this isn't unique to quizzing - it's a driving source for many people in lots of different areas of their lives. Go ahead and take a moment to think of a time in which you felt peer pressure - either in quizzing or in something else - and recount how that affected you. It's argued that it's not always negative; that it's a good way to spur each other on to do better. But I think these are two different things, and here's why: Peer pressure...
Spurring each other on to do better...
And I think most of us would like to see the latter of these at work, rather than the first. So how do we take action on this? It's a good idea to start with ourselves, so that leads us to ask the question, how can we eliminate the effect peer pressure has on us? And how can we stop participating in it? Well we can go about this in a few different ways, but the best one would probably be to purposely begin doing three things: encouraging and complimenting others, encouraging yourself, and caring only about who God says you are, and what He thinks of you. Once we can start our journey towards seeing ourselves how our Father sees us (and seeing how deeply He's in love with each of us), the two previous things on the list become natural, and can come almost effortlessly. Why? Because whatever visual, heart-level picture we have of God, is what we will mirror - whether it's an accurate or inaccurate picture. If we see Him as love - that He is love and love is Him - then we will begin to become and project love as well, if we're seeking Him. This is a very positive perspective on God and life, compared to what a lot of christians project, and I think this perspective on peer pressure is a positive one as well. But why should we care what God thinks, when people are all around us, and who tangibly (visually and audibly) express it? People always say, "don't worry about what everybody else says" but they rarely add a reason to that. Sometimes, if they're christians, they'll say something like, "because God's eternal and people aren't" but everyone's spirits are eternal, because they either go to Heaven or Hell, so this answer doesn't make much sense - unless they're talking about just life here on earth, in which case it still doesn't really help because earth is the only place we'll be dealing with the problem. So here's my reason; once we get a revelation from God about how much He loves us, and how He sees us as perfect and pure, forgiven, beautiful, and His children, we'll be overcome by the extent of how much more this means to us. That "feeling" might not last a long time, depending on how deeply rooted we are in our relationship with the Lord (maybe I'll give my whole testimony on this at some point, but I won't go into that right here), so the next step is just getting to know Him, and continuing to deepen that relationship. People and God - there really is no comparison :P at the end of the day, even if these people mean a lot to us and it can hurt, very badly at times, to feel like you're rejected because of something, you have to ask yourself whose opinion you're valuing (caring about) more. Our Father's? or our friends? I've been hurt some as a result of not doing or agreeing with everything my peers did or thought, and I've given into the pressure a lot (LOT) more times. Heck, I'm not even a two-year-old christian yet! (Yes, that means that I didn't start caring about or seeking the Lord until the end of my second year in Bible quizzing - so hear me when I say that I don't have this all figured out :P) And it's because of how that effected me, that it's one of the main reasons I feel a bit strongly on this subject, when it comes to my fellow teens (whom peer pressure usually hits the hardest) and my fellow quizzers. I'm going to close with a question for you - whose voice are you going to listen to today? Which relationship are you going to invest in, with your choices this week? Thanks for reading guys, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the Bethany invitational later this month! Happy quizzing! Keep calm and quiz on (and out)! Your fellow quizzer, Mallory
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Trending Posts:Author:Mallory is a graduated Teen Bible Quizzer originally from the Southern region, moved to the Northwest, coaching quizzing over the book of Matthew. Check out our
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