Think of a time you broke a rule
to help someone or told a white lie to keep your friend from finding out what
you got them for Christmas. Now, think of all the times you threw a few dollars
in the tithe bucket because “that deacon” was collecting the offering or you
showed up to the Habitat for Humanity site not to work, but to be seen. God’s
favor will likely go better towards the white lie you told your friend to keep
their Rolex a surprise until Christmas day, rather than the three hours you
spent “impressing” people at the expense of Habitat for Humanity.
We care what people think when we
do something that is considered to be immoral and we care what people think
when we do something that furthers the kingdom of God. We don’t want to be thought
of as despicable, nor do we want to be thought of as too religious. We tend to
forget that God knows our motives better than we do and doing the right thing
for the wrong reason is worse than doing the wrong thing for the right reason. Paul
certainly wasn’t afraid to break rules. His jail time was a result of his
willingness to do the wrong thing by law for the right reason by God. Had Paul
not broken the laws of his society, the Gospel would not have spread like it
did. Paul did not allow the opinions of others hold him back, nor did he let
the laws of society hinder him. God knows if the motivation behind our action
is to please Him or to please others and when our motive is to please others we
are not honoring Him. God judges us by the motivation behind the action, not
the action itself.
Proverbs 29:25 (NIV) says, “Fear
of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord will be kept
safe.” Snares are the line of defense of the enemy and he places them in many
places throughout the earth to trip us, stops us, and entangle us. If we are not
aware of his snares, they will overtake us. God intended for us to find
liberation in following Him. Not constraints on how we demonstrate our faith to
a world full of critical men and women. This Proverb warns us that the greatest snare of the enemy is
found in our fear of man. Why should we fear man when He neither created us nor
sent His Son to die for us? What is there to be gained in the favor of anyone
other than our Father in Heaven? When we are setting out each day to seek His
favor through our actions, the snares the enemy places in the opinions of
others will no longer hinder us. We will live freely and fully striving to
please God and God alone. We will no longer be held back by what our boss’
expectation, or our classmate’s snide remarks. If we overstep the snare of the
opinions of others, we will enable our faith to move in mighty ways. We are the
ones who have placed a stigmatism on the opinions of others and we are the ones
that must overcome it.
