Fear God, Not Man

A very good morning to you, it is Thursday morning. I greet you in Jesus’ name! It is the 22nd December 2022, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start off with Isaiah 51 and I am reading from verse 12:

“I, even I, am He who comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made like grass?
And you forget the Lord your Maker,
Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
When he has prepared to destroy.
And where is the fury of the oppressor?”

Why do we fear man and not fear God? Why are we intimidated by man and not concentrating on the love of God? We go then, to Matthew 10:28, Jesus says:

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

The word of the Lord. The fear of man can paralyse us. Rather, let us today concentrate on the love of Christ in our lives and concentrate on pleasing Him and not pleasing man. Don’t be afraid of bullies. They are all talk, you have nothing to fear. They are simply ordinary men, just like you and me. Never allow them to compromise your relationship with the Lord, Jesus Christ, just to be one of the gang.

I want to say to the young ladies - Don’t in any way allow men to persuade you to do things you don’t want to do, just so that you can be part of the gang. It never lasts. Rather, concentrate on your friendship with the Lord and then He will lead you to people that you can really make genuine friends with, friendships that will last forever. You do not need fairweather friends in your life. Do you know what they are like? Well, when the sun is shining, they are your friends but when the clouds come over, they don’t want to be friends anymore. You need a friend that will stick with you, closer than any brother. And who is that? It’s Jesus. Proverbs 18:24.

An acid test of a good friend is when you have nothing to give them in return... When we arrived on this farm over 40 years ago we had nothing, that is when we had friends who have stuck closer to us than any others, from that time to now. So today, remember, keep your eyes on Jesus, He will never disappoint you.

Have a wonderful day,
Jesus bless you and goodbye.