Jack Frost asks this question in his book, “Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship,” “What would your life be like if you had no fear of man? No fear of what others think about you because you are secure in the love of your heavenly Father and in His kind thoughts toward you?” Personally, my life would be a lot easier to listen and obey the promptings of God.
While in India, a few friends and I had gone out to explore the city and had taken a rickshaw back to where we were staying. I had told the rickshaw driver where we wanted to go and he said that it would be 100 rupees. When we got to the house he told me that it would cost an additional 50 rupees because of where it was. Instantly I could sense God tell me that I needed to give the driver an extra 25 rupees. However, instead of listening and obeying, I argued with this guy for about 4 minutes and finally just walked away without paying him anything extra. As I climbed the stairs to our apartment, conviction began to set in and I realized I had made a mistake.
This guy, on average, probably takes home a little over $3 dollars a day to support his family. I make more in one week than this man makes in an entire year and the amount I was arguing about was less than $1. What?!?!? It was one dollar! ONE DOLLAR! A dollar this guy could definitely have used and a dollar that I wouldn’t have noticed was gone. Why did I argue?
Fear of Man Mistake #1) I didn’t want to be that ‘white guy’ who got taken advantage of because he was white. Fear of Man Mistake #2) I didn’t want to appear weak to my friends that I was with. Fear of Man Mistake #3) I wanted to justify my stance because I knew I was right. These three mistakes pail in comparison to the root cause of my fear of man being in pride and it was because of pride that I didn’t listen and obey the wisdom God was sending me at that moment. I also took advantage of a person who was much poorer than I.
As a Christian, part of my identity is that I am a personal witness to Christ and I am suppose to mirror His love and kindness to others. Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses to the end of the earth.” I had the chance to smile at this man and show him Yeshua but I didn’t do that; I was more concerned with how people saw me than how people saw Yeshua through me. What people think is meaningless in comparison to listening and obeying my Heavenly Father.
As I continue to pursue God through this 11 month journey I hope that I can continue to learn to trust what God is telling me and obey the call of wisdom.
