Fear is a crippling thing. Fear causes people to do some things they wouldn’t normally do and to not do some things they might have done had the circumstances been different. And one of the greatest hindrances to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is fear. People who don’t know Him are afraid of what it will cost them to give Him their life. And people who claim to know Him are afraid of what it will cost them to truly follow Him.
And – that’s the way it’s been since Jesus began His ministry. Look at John 12:42 “Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue;”
I think William Gurnall back in the 1600’s said it best – “We fear men so much because we fear God so little.” That is the key. People today don’t truly know God. If we truly knew Him, we would fear displeasing Him FAR more than we would fear anything man can do to us. Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
And when we talk about fearing God, we shouldn’t picture that as shaking in fear at Him (although that might do some people some good), rather it is a proper respect for just Who He is and what it means to disobey and displease Him. It’s not a little matter. Hebrews 10:31 warns us, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
And besides all that. If God is TRULY God, and all that He promises is REALLY true – What are we afraid of man for??? God saved Daniel from a den of lions. He saved Daniel’s three friends from a fiery furnace. And even if God chooses not to keep us from harm by man – it will be FAR better to stand before Him knowing we didn’t flinch or give in to our fears when man threatens or mocks us for following Him. If you are more afraid of what your fellow man will say about you or to you than you are about what God thinks about you – I’d examine yourself to see if you truly are a follower of His!