Isaiah 2:22 – Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?

THEME OF THE DAY. OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF PEOPLE. It is real, powerful, and must be fought off with great effort and dependency upon the Lord. If not battled against, it will create spiritual paralysis; be a joy-stealer, and make the Christian life anything but the Biblical Christian life. The “it” is the one thing defining the theme of the day – the fear of people. Let’s tackle this in two contexts – in the world of unbelievers and in the world of believers.

First, the world of unbelievers. Despite what some people may say with perceived self-confidence, “I don’t care what people think of me”, it isn’t really true. We do care about people’s opinion of us. If we didn’t, why do we want to avoid embarrassment and embarrassing situations in our lives? And when it comes to encounters with unbelievers, we face a significant challenge. If we want to be ‘liked’ and ‘accepted’ by non-Christians whether in social circles or on the job, we will be tempted and likely compromise areas of Biblical conviction. For instance, in workplace and social settings of conversation when a God-dishonoring joke is made, gossip is being spread, or complaining about anything or anyone is unfolding before our eyes, how do we respond? If the stronghold of fearing people has its grip upon us, we will either join in or remain silent. Many a Christian’s testimony has been damaged by this desire for acceptance in the worlds we live in. The example, as always, of Jesus is the one to seek – “And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances” (Matthew 22:16). Friends, the only way to overcome being enslaved to the opinions of unsaved others about us is to stay so close to Christ that our walk with Him is constant, no matter the setting we find ourselves. And this fear of people will also silence us when it comes to talking about the Lord Jesus. We will be “tongue-tied” and not share the Gospel. King Solomon addressed this issue in his wisdom book of Proverbs – “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe” (Proverbs 29:25).

But this fear of people isn’t just among sinners. The fear of people may also grip us in our Christian circles, and reduce the depth of our spiritual growth, hindering our intimacy with the Lord. How so? We don’t put ourselves into fellowship groups and relationships with other Christians where real sharing, vulnerability, and transparency occurs. Why? Because we fear what other Christians may think of us if they really knew us. When it comes to avoidance of clear Biblical commands to be deeply in one another’s lives, there are three things we usually use to keep us from such practice of Biblical fellowship; busyness, wrong priorities, and isolation. Busyness prevents us from giving over the time to go spiritually deep with other believers; wrong priorities allow us to choose not to go spiritually deep with other believers; and isolation lets us hide behind a safe, but unreal mask of “I am okay” when a Christian asks, “How are you today?” How many times has a fellow believer on a Sunday morning asked such a question and we pass it off with a safe, I don’t want to be probed and transparent answer of “Oh, I am fine. Thanks for asking”? Such avoidance reveals fear; fear of exposure and rejection. It is a fear of what another Christian may think of us if they really knew the raging battles and defeats in our lives.

Overcoming the fear of people is essential if we want the abundant life Jesus came to give (John 10:10). One way to begin to see victory in this area would be to ponder today’s scripture – why fear people who are just like us? It would be liberating if we truly learned to share our lives, really share our lives, because we would discover all of us struggle in the same areas. Then we would practice God-honoring and God-commanded Biblical fellowship with one another.

PRAYER: “Father, write Your fear deep in my life that I might overcome the fear of people.”

QUOTE: “Learn to fear God more if we want to fear people less”