And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Mark 16:8

I have a friend named Ritchie. Ritchie is a bold witness for Jesus Christ. He once said, “Believers who do not share their faith in the risen Savior are more afraid of what people think of them than they are about what they think of Christ.” The Bible calls this “the fear of man.”

Self preservation and the drive to stay alive is something in human beings that is an echo of being created in the image of God. Since God cannot die, human beings do not want to die. It is built into us. But when the fear of man causes us to disobey the Lord’s command to tell others the gospel so that they might believe and be saved—that’s a different problem. That is seldom (if ever in our cases) a fear of dying. It is a fear of what people might think of us.

I might add to what my friend Ritchie said about this saying, “Believers who do not share their faith in the risen Savior are more afraid of what people think of us than we are about what Christ thinks of them—especially when we are disobeying His clear command to tell others about Christ.” This is a fear not of dying but of being thought ill of—and by people who don’t know Christ at that!

Proverbs 29:25 provides the diagnosis and the cure for our fear of men. It says, “The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD shall be safe.” Let us, by His grace and in the power of the Holy Spirit, refuse to be ensnared by the fear of man, and instead, trust in the Lord for His reward.

Errol