"Everybody's doing it." It's a phrase that usually receives the sharp retort of parent to child, "If everybody were jumping off a cliff, would you do it too?" Perhaps the action in question is replaced by "setting themselves on fire", but you get the idea. It is an appropriate (and frighteningly accurate) question I think. Many seem to grow up with the erroneous notion that the more people committing a particular sin, the less heinous the sin will be in the eyes of God. Like looters in the recent Alabama tornados, if we are all perpetrators of the crime, then blame fades and the seriousness of the offense declines or is perhaps even eliminated. Most of us find that type of behavior despicable, so let's use another example: If you are driving the speed limit on the interstate, and everyone around you is doing 80 mph, there can be a strong urge to increase your speed without increasing conviction for having done so simply because "everybody's doing it" and "the state trooper cannot pull all of the speeders over and give them a citation for driving illegally."
The mob mentality towards sin also allows us to spot people that we've judged (something we are instructed by Jesus not to do) to be "strong Christians" and if they are engaging in sinful acts, then, when measured by the standard they have set, we compare favorably. The problem we face is that these "Christians" are not our standard. Perfection is our aim...holiness "in all that you do" is the call...and since we've fallen short of this goal (and indeed upon the grace of God through His Son, Jesus) we have the sovereign summons to live as though we are dead to sin . As "believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ" we are empowered to live beyond the wickedness that is so prevalent and measure our lives by the characteristics of Christ. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. This is our criteria...our creed.
What is required of us is humility, justice and mercy. Walk in this today...no matter what. Even if everybody else is jumping off a cliff.