When I was younger, there was a movie (I’m not sure how popular it was?), called “George of the Jungle.” I’ve seen it numerous times, and it really is a silly movie. There is this guy who doesn’t really fit into normal society and normal, person-to-person interactions and relationships because he was basically raised by wild animals.
He is similar to Tarzan, but in the movie he is brought back to civilization by the first girl he sees whom he just happens to fallen in love with (but that’s a different part of the story). When he is in the jungle, he swings from vines but he constantly has this problem of running into trees. Even in the theme song, they warn George multiple times to “Watch out for that tree!”
I was reading Proverbs 29:25 and the comparison to George of the Jungle struck me. Here is the verse:
“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.”
Our “tree” is the fear of man. We fear what people will think of and say about us. We worry about our popularity and about just getting along through life without too much difficulty or push back from the people we go to school with or work with. I think too often we, me included, put more effort into just getting through life without too much difficulty than living for the LORD.
The fear of man lays a snare; it lays a trap. “Watch out for that trap!” Living in fear of people is just slavery to popular opinion. This is far from the abundant life, the joyful, Spirit-filled and Spirit-empowered life we are offered through Jesus Christ.
Why is there a lack of Christian leaders? Why do too many Christian leaders and pastors and churches look more like the world than Christ? Why do so many first think of what someone else will think and then think about what God thinks? Why do we live in a rather powerless form of Christianity?
I could be wrong, and I could be oversimplifying the issue, but I think a large part of the problem is that we have fallen into the snare of the fear of man. Here is my challenge: “Watch out for that trap!” Don’t be afraid of people, but trust in the LORD. Put your faith in Jesus Christ. Trust and surrender to Him.
After all, the Bible says in the second half of the verse in Romans 8:31, “… If God is for us, who can be against us?” God is for those who are His. You have an opportunity to become a child of God (John 1:9-13). Why not take Him up on the offer?
Faith Lived Out 