How does the fear of God apply to various aspects of everyday life? Craig Houston explains in this video that the fear of God should influence all aspects of our life, even our vehicle purchases. When making such a purchase, one who fears God must determine how to be a wise steward of the money that God has given him. In contrast, a person who fears man would only consider what his friends would think instead of pondering what God would have him to do. Fearing man can paralyze us. We fear men so much that whatever we wear, speak, and do, we do it all in the name of pleasing men and live in constant worry, wondering if we're living up to their varying standards. This “fear” is misplaced – instead of wondering what your friends would say or think, prayerfully seek to always please God in all things. Ephesians 5:15-17 (NKJV) – “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

The purchase of a vehicle, one versus the other, some of it is a matter of mere choice, but you look at it and say there's a fiscal responsibility that's greater with this larger vehicle, but it would suit our needs better for the company, for our family, whatever the case may be. Where fear of man can come in could be, well, will people think I'm high on the hog, I'm getting this bigger vehicle, is my motive right in the vehicle? Or the fear of man could be if I don't have the bigger vehicle. You understand, those are not always the easiest answers. For one person it may be perfectly right to buy the larger vehicle.

For another person it may not be. And my standard is not going to be yours because God has to work in that. Trying to tie that into the fear of God over man, what I would say is that you have to determine what would be wise stewardship for you in God's economy, right, and walk in in the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge, the beginning of understanding, all of those are revealed in scripture and I think that that would be appropriate to apply to a decision that you make in your daily life. Ultimately, if you have car A and car B, one's cheaper, one's more expensive, the more expensive one suits your needs better, and you really do have the ability to pay for it as best as you know how, then unless you're opposed to any debt, if that's a biblical position that you hold upon your understanding of scripture, if you're not going against God or going against your conscience, then to not get that one could be fearing circumstances rather than having faith in God. The Bible says that fear of man is a snare.

It's a trap. And I think that in life, really a lot in relation to human relationships, we fear what men are going to think, what men are going to say, what men are gonna believe about us in such a fashion that it affects what we wear, how we speak, it affects the places we might go, and all in the name of pleasing men. And that gives us an idea that we have an understanding of what fear is. Or just fearing the wrong thing.