Do You Worship Man or God?
Michael Edwards
The fear of man warned of in the Bible is being more concerned with pleasing man than God. It’s living a stress-filled life, trying to satisfy the crowd instead of the one voice of the coach. It leads us to entertain man with our words and actions, even if they are not what God wants. The fear of man boils down to what are they going to think instead of what will God think?
The fear of man prevents us from speaking openly about our trust in Jesus and sharing our faith so others can believe and be saved. It even stops us from praying openly for others in their time of need. It is like putting a lamp under a basket instead of on the table to light up the room. The fear of man is the foundation for the lie that sharing the gospel truth is unloving if it makes others feel uncomfortable. The fear of man is in direct opposition to the fear of God.
But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared. Psalm 130:4 BSB
While some debate the fear of God, Jesus clearly defines it when He quotes Deuteronomy 6:13, replacing fear with worship.
Fear the LORD your God, serve Him only… Deut 6:13a BSB
But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’ ” Luke 4:8 BSB
Jesus reveals the fear of God is the worship of God. This undeniably exposes another truth, the fear of man is worshipping man. Only our enemy wants us to worship man because he knows we will serve who we worship.
Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the LORD means safety. Prov 29:25 NLT
Be honest with yourself; who do you try and please more, man or God? If man, you have fallen into the trap of worshipping and serving man over God.
Dear Lord, please forgive me and help me to overcome my fear of man, to always worship and serve you alone. Amen
Want inspiration to overcome the fear of man, watch this 5 minute video of a famous atheist visibly impacted after being offered the gospel—the Holy Spirit working on him and us.