The heart of this statement is that our respect and fear of God should outweigh our respect and fear of man. While this is a statement that is familiar to us all, if we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that this takes constant effort. We are all naturally bent toward wanting to be accepted by who we consider to be the “in crowd”. Many times, this acceptance requires compromise on our part. This usually occurs on two extremes; those who compromise convictions and those who compromise compassion; neither is godly. Those who compromise conviction are driven by the direction of the culture. They just want to fit in and be accepted without rocking the boat. There is little interest in sound doctrine for these personalities, but an over emphasis and unbiblical idea of love. Those who compromise compassion, usually view themselves as the firm and faithful. While they hold to positional convictions, the conviction to fulfill the greatest commandment of loving God and neighbor somehow has very little influence over their lives. These personalities are usually trying to maintain their own “in crowd” of the faithful few. At its core, this is also motivated by the fear of man, and the respect of some powerful personality. We must fight to have a 2Corinthians 5:9 attitude. Like Paul, we must make it our aim, that in all circumstances we will seek to please God.