Fear of Man

A few months back my friend Laura wrote a post on her website called The Fear of Man vs. The Fear of God. In it she opens a window into her struggle with satisfying men instead of satisfying God. She brought it up again in a post yesterday and I thought I would toss my own hat in the ring with some thoughts. (Also, I’m a terrible person because I never commented on this before. Forgive me, Laura.)

First, a quote from Laura’s first post:

People-pleasers are bold, too, as long as everyone in the room agrees with them. People-pleasers do not, though, have true opinions of their own; their current view depends upon who has ‘gotten to them’ last. People-pleasers are never satisfied because they await the next thing that makes them feel like ‘part of the crowd.’

This is exactly the way I feel sometimes. I am willing to stand out on the ledge, so long as the ledge is big enough to hold several others that are out there with me. I feel like I’m rarely bold enough to throw my own opinion out there unless I know that there are others who agree with me. I’m not anxious to move out, draw fire and take the flaming arrows for unpopular ideas.

This affects me as a worship leader too. I want everyone to be happy with the music that we do, so I often tend to play it safe rather than push the envelope a little. While I do believe that I should never push for the sake of pushing, I do think that we should be a little uncomfortable. Comfort leads to complacency.

How do we get past this fear of man? Laura smacked this one out of the park:

Standing in awe of God, revering God, allowing God to take His proper place in our lives gives great freedom! Proverbs says that the fear of the Lord brings knowledge, strong confidence, and a fountain of life.

When our eyes are fixed on the One who gives us life, they can’t be drawn to those who suck the life out of us. Our focus should be on God and what God wants us to do. The people who sling the arrows aren’t responsible for what God has given us, we are! Only when we get those priorities straight can we really blossom into what we’re intended to be.

On a personal note, I’m glad that Laura put this out there. It’s tough to admit our failings in front of the world, but especially in front of our friends. As Christians we spend so much time trying to be perfect, so much energy trying to hide the dark side of ourselves, and we forget that there are probably others sharing that same struggle. We need more openness, more community, and less of the stained glass masquerade.