March 09, 2012

Fear of man: When people are big and God is small

Today I'm adding 'When people are big and God is small' by Edward Welch (Available from Amazon) to the Master Reading List under the category of Fear of man.

Man is not called to live alone.  Therefore living in relationship with other humans should be a delight.  But since sin has entered into the world, our relationships with others are broken and dysfunctional.  In fact, one of our biggest problems is that we have become afraid of others - we all struggle with fear of man.

Ed Welch's book is an encouragement to overcome the fear of man that drives us into further sin and pain.  Fear of man is particularly dangerous because as Welch says, 'we replace God with people.  Instead of a biblically guided fear of the Lord, we fear others.'

Thus the first part of the book is dedicated answering how and why we fear others.  Particularly why we fear that people see us, reject us and physically hurt us.

Then the second part of the book teaches you how to overcome the fear of man, particularly by fearing the Lord and delighting in service to him.

If you struggle with a fear of others, which every honest person would admit they do, then this book will nip that fear in the bud and replacement it with a much more joyous fear: the fear of the Lord.

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