Two great books on the two great fears

Two great books on the two great fears

I know of two fine books about overcoming the fear of man.

People Pleasing by Lou Priolo

When People are Big and God is Small by Edward Welch

Here are some blurbs:

Full of Scripture and challenging to the reader, Pleasing People takes aim at a problem common in all of us: the desire to be liked by others. But the book also wisely delineates when pleasing people is biblical. The penetrating exercises throughout the text will help readers see how this sin manifests itself in their lives.

The book is smartly divided up into two main sections: “Our Problem” and “God’s Solution.” Within the first section, the chapters consist of “Characteristics of a People Pleaser” (pp. 19-36), “The Dangers of Being a People-Pleaser” (pp. 51-65), and “You Can’t Please All of the People Even Some of the Time” (pp. 83-93). The second section deals with the “Characteristics of a God-Pleaser” (pp. 127-46), and “So What Exactly Does It Take to Please God” (pp. 147-64).

When People are Big and God is Small

Overly concerned about what people think of you? Ed Welch uncovers the spiritual dimension of people-pleasing and points the way through a true knowledge of God, ourselves, and others.

“Need people less. Love people more. That’s the author’s challenge…. He’s talking about a tendency to hold other people in awe, to be controlled and mastered by them, to depend on them for what God alone can give…. [Welch] proposes an antidote: the fear of God…the believer’s response to God’s power, majesty and not least his mercy.”