The most common reason we are controlled by other people [is that] they can reject, ridicule, or despise us (rejection-fear). They don't invite us to the party. They ignore us. They don't like us. They aren't pleased with us. They withhold the acceptance, love, or significance we want from them. As a result, we feel worthless.

[Examples of people in the Bible who struggled with this fear include King Saul (1 Sam. 15) and the Pharisees (John 8:45-50, John 12:42-43)].

The praise of others--that wisp of a breeze that lasts for a moment--can seem more glorious than the praise of God. Jesus himself told the Jewish leaders, "How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?" (John 5:44).

Today we would be nice and call the Pharisees people-pleasers. We would say they "struggled with peer pressure." Since all of us are affected by it at one time or another, we are almost sympathetic toward such behavior. But this is perhaps the most tragic form of the fear of man. Teenagers are constantly making unwise decisions because of it. Adults, too, look to people for their cues. We wait for others to take initiatives of love We spend too much time wondering what others may have thought about our outfit or the comment we made in the small group meeting. We see opportunities to testify about Christ, but we avoid them. We are more concerned about looking stupid (a fear of people) than we are about acting sinfully (fear of the Lord).

Jesus stood in stark contrast to this Pharasaic concern. He did not show favoritism; instead, he reached out to male and female, rich and poor, and all races and ages. His teaching was not done by first taking a poll of what was popular. Instead, he spoke truth that was often unpopular but could penetrate the heart. "I do not accept praise from men," he said. . . . It was part of Jesus' teaching with authority, and it was one of the features that distinguished his ministry from that of all the other Jewish leaders.

Edward T. Welch, When People Are Big and God Is Small