Don’t Worry About What People Will Think

Proverbs‬ ‭29‬:‭25,‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.

1 Corinthians 2:14, NASB

But a natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

I believe there are two main things which hold people back from taking action on behalf of obedience:

• Fear of man

• Lack of understanding

These are really in no particular order because they work in tandem with each other. It is because of our lack of understanding that we fear what people will think.

So this week we’ll talk about the fear of man.

When God leads His people to action, there’s often (if not always) the possibility of the appearance of foolishness involved—because the things of God often appear foolish to the understanding of man. All throughout the Bible, we see the heroes of faith act in “foolishness” to obey God: 

• Noah appeared foolish when he built the ark.

• Moses’ mother appeared foolish when she put her son in a basket and sent him down the river.

• Moses appeared foolish when he stepped in front of Pharaoh and demanded that his people be released.

• Joshua appeared foolish circling the walls of Jericho.

• Gideon appeared foolish when he took on a mighty enemy army with 300 men.

• David appeared foolish when he stood in front of Goliath with a slingshot and no armor.

And on and on and on all the way into the New Testament. 

So, if we’re going to do awesome things on behalf of the Kingdom of God, then we’re going to have to fight back against the fear of man once and for all. 

And if we don’t? 

If we allow the fear of man to dictate our obedience, then we will forfeit the things we could have accomplished in partnership with God.

Just like Solomon writes in Proverbs 29:25, the fear of man will lay a snare for us—it will cause us to get trapped, or stuck, along the journey of our life.

This is true in the big things and in the “small” things (“small” is in quotation marks because the small things are the big things:). Sometimes the fear of man can prevent us from sending the text to invite someone to church, or making the phone call to reunite with an estranged family member or friend, or asking the person we find ourselves next to if we can pray for them.

And notice what Solomon writes as the way to stay safe against the fear of man—to trust God.

So today, if you’re feeling stuck—paralyzed, even—because of the nagging fear of what people are going to think, then trust God and do the thing anyway!

And watch what God does as a result.