When People Are Big...

Did you get a chance to do a little summer reading? There’s no short­age of recommended books to take to the shore—not to mention required reading for students (our kids used a lot of those hours in the van between Pennsylvania and Minnesota to make head­way in their books for school). In recent weeks I read Ed Welch’s book, When People Are Big and God Is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codepend­ency, and the Fear of Man.

Welch argues that the “fear of man” is seen every­where: in peer pressure, over-commitment, emphasizing self-esteem, being easily embarrassed, second-guessing decisions you make, lying, blaming, manipulating, feeling like martyrs, avoiding people, excessive dieting and preoccupation with body image, anger, over­achievement, jealousy, and more! The fear of man is simply part of the fabric of our human existence—we all struggle with it.

The key problem with allowing the fear of man to loom large is that it eliminates the fear of the Lord—the rightful, reverent, joyful sense of awe and admiration we ought to feel toward God. By con­trast, when we as believers learn to rivet our attention on our magnifi­cent Lord, we begin to break loose from the desperate need for human applause. Without putting it in so many words, Welch is really asking who is the Lord of your life—whom do you revere, whose approval matters to you most, who is in charge of your life?

The task God sets before us is to need people less but love them more. “Only people-lovers are not controlled by other people” (p. 41). But people are our idol of choice. Ironically, when we use people to satisfy our own desires and ambitions, it leaves us enslaved to them. But loving others in a self-forgetting way sets us free to be a blessing, and to help them, like us, look up with wonder into the face of God.

As we launch into the fall together, let’s echo Paul’s God-centered wisdom in 1 Thessalonians 2:4-6 by speaking and acting in all we do not for human applause but to please God who tests our hearts. Let’s commit together to lead lives of reverence and awe toward God, seeking to magnify his glory and thus defusing the fear of man.