One of the most subtle and restrictive forms of fear does not come from global events or natural disasters, but from the faces of those around us. It is the ‘fear of man’. This is the anxiety we feel regarding the opinions, judgments, and potential rejection of our peers, colleagues, or even our family.
The Bible is remarkably candid about this trap. Proverbs 29:25 warns us: ‘The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.’ A snare is a trap designed to catch an animal by the neck and restrict its movement. When we live to please people or fear their disapproval, we find our spiritual movement restricted. We stop following God’s leading because we’re too busy checking the reactions of those around us.
The cure for the ‘fear of man’ is not found in building a foundation on our own self-esteem, but in enlarging our ‘fear of God’. When our view of God is small, people look like giants. But when we catch a glimpse of the majesty, power, and holiness of the Almighty, the opinions of people begin to shrink to their proper size.
The writer of Hebrews gives us a powerful declaration of this perspective:
‘We may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.’ Hebrews 13:6.
‘Boldly’ is the opposite of the cowering spirit that people-pleasing creates. This boldness is born from the realisation that if the Creator of the universe is our ‘helper’, then no human critic carries any ultimate authority over our lives.
Jesus spoke to his disciples about this, knowing they would face intense pressure to conform to the world’s expectations. He told them to ‘fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell’ (Matthew 10:28).
While that sounds like a stern warning, it’s actually a liberating truth. It means that the only opinion that truly matters in eternity is the opinion of the one who loved us and gave himself for us. When we settle the fact that we are living for an ‘audience of one’, the pressure to perform for the world begins to lift.
To walk with God is, at times, to walk in a different direction to the crowd. This requires a specific type of courage. We see this in the life of Peter and the apostles when they were commanded by the religious authorities to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. Their response was simple and unshakable: ‘We ought to obey God rather than men’ (Acts 5:29).
This was a clear-eyed understanding of priority. They weren’t being difficult; they were being faithful. When we are filled with God’s Spirit, he gives us the same grace to be kind and respectful to others without being enslaved by their approval.
How do we break the snare of the fear of man today?
We need to:
When we stop looking at the faces of men for validation and start looking at the face of Christ, we will find a freedom we never knew existed. We are not a slave to the crowd; we are a servant of the Most High.
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