IT SEEMS pretty common; I do it all the time. You have to care what people think, right? OK, so maybe there is a warning about how caring too much can actually be fearing people, and that it’s a trap, and it makes you give in to evil people, and can put your wife at risk, and it makes you keep your mouth shut when you should be speaking up, and it makes you sneak around, and act wimpy, and it’s illogical, and hypocritical, and leads others astray and causes you to be confronted. And it makes you do terrible things that you know are wrong. But, outside of that, fearing people isn’t so bad.
THEN THERE’S fearing God. The idea is mostly in the Old Testament. In the New Testament you see over and over “don’t be afraid” when people are confronted with angels and God. It’s almost as if He has to first convince us to fear Him so we’ll be humbled, but then when we are humbled, He says don’t be afraid. But you don’t get the DON’T until you ARE.
SO WHAT CAN HAPPEN if I don’t fear people, but fear God? When the carpenter Jesus proved Himself an incredibly better fisherman than the professional Peter, Peter was absolutely astonished. He was rocked by the awesome power and holiness of the ‘amateur’ and in front of a big crowd of people, the professional fisherman fell down in fear at Jesus’ feet. Then, in his fear, he was told, don’t be afraid, and he and his friends left everything and followed Him. And their fear/don’t fear spread to many after them and after many generations, to me. It’s a long chain that’s going to keep going, and I’m one of the links. So, how much is fearing people worth?
Comments