Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe. Proverbs 29:25

„My cup was filled with me. It was not empty. . . I realized that God’s forgiveness of me was a holy forgiveness, so holy that he was to be feared. I was amazed and blessed by the love of God for me as a sinner. Armed with such confidence in his forgiving love, I could pray even more boldly that God would continue to search me and expose my heart. . . I found that pride ran deep. Beneath the despondency of little failures was the desire to be somebody. I wanted to be . .

. . I found that people were big, my desires for self-glory were even bigger, and God was small. I cared more about the praise of men than the praise of God. I was a worshipper of people, hoping that they would give me the blessing I desired. . .  . The path away from the fear of man was the path of confesion of sin and repentance. There were no other options.” (Ed Welch, When People are Big and God is small)

Praise the Lord that turning away from being full of me, which always leads to more ugliness, is made possible by Jesus alone! How does all of this match with what you are hearing on Sunday at church or on tv?