Faith | The Sum of All Fears (What Do You Fear?)

My pastor hit a home run with me with one of his recent statements or questions.

What do you fear?

Well, a lot of things.

I fear failure.  I fear not being accepted.  I fear defeat.  I fear change.  I fear imperfection.  I fear not measuring up.

Are any of these familiar to you?

I could go on and on because insecurity is something the enemy has tagged and targeted with me.  Just being brutally honest here.

My pastor's point was as simple as this, do we fear God or man.

It could be asked this way.

Do we want to please God or man?

Where is our focus?

Do we fear (want to please) God, the almighty, the creator of the universe, the one that spoke light into existence, the one that gave His life for us?

Or man, our equal part, no better than us and will fail us unquestionably?

I think all of the examples of my fears fall into the category of fearing what men will think of me if I fail, or I’m not accepted, or I’m defeated or I’m not perfect or I don't measure up.

Our pastor pointed out that this type of mindset is an insult to God.

It’s an insult that we don’t strive to please Him FIRST in our daily living.

Do you fear God or man?

The question is simple, yet the answer hesitant.   

I really want to say yes and I really want my heart to be of the same result, but I must say that I have fallen into the trap of really caring what man thinks of me, yet forgetting the one that created me thinks I’m pretty AWESOME!!!

Why is this? Why do people forget God and only live to please man?

Man in his personal exaltation has invented for himself a system of reasoning influence by many things.

Media mostly…

If we have flawless beautiful skin, shiny locks, white teeth, drive a BMW, carry a COACH, keep and immaculate and organized home, our kids attend the best private schools and we are among the elite…all while sporting a 110lb frame…THEN…then I’m acceptable, successful, a champion.

Perfect, in the eyes of man.

All the while, the corners of our hearts are draped with cob webs and leave nothing pleasing to be found in the sight of our Creator.

How did we get it wrong?

It's a complete trick of the enemy!

Where we fear the acceptance of man more than we long to please God.

I don't know about you, but I don’t want my mindset to be an insult to God.

Do you?

I challenge you to ask a daily question along with me.

"Today, will I please God or man?"

I'm thankful for a Pastor that always induces spiritual growth with his message.

I hope this inspires to you walk daily with your Creator and find a way to include pleasing Him in your daily decisions.  

I'm going to work on it too!

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 KJV

Blessings,

Anna


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