This is a very illuminating question to ask:
Am I more afraid of looking foolish before people, or acting sinfully before the Lord?
Isaiah 66:2: “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”
Cf. Edward T Welch, When People are Big and God is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man (P+R, 1997), 40: “we are more concerned about looking stupid (a fear of people) than we are about acting sinfully (fear of the Lord).”
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