I have been reading Spiritual-Mindedness by John Owen, an Abridge and Made Easy to Read version by R.J.K. Law. A key point that has stood out to meet is that we must balance delight in the Lord with fear of the Lord.
Law rephrased Owen in this way:
It is the spiritual mind alone that can reconcile delight in God and show him reverential fear. On the one hand, saints are expected to delight and rejoice in God always and to draw near to him with boldness and confidence. And on the other hand, saints are expected to tremble before him, to fear and tremble before him, to fear that great and dreadful name, ‘the Lord our God,’ to have grace to serve him with reverential and godly fear, because he is ‘a consuming fire.’ Carnal reason cannot understand how these two things can be reconciled. What carnal reason is afraid of, it cannot delight in, and what it delights in, it will not long fear. But spiritual-mindedness will both fear God and delight in him at the same time.[1]
Owen alludes to the letter to the Hebrews. The author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 4:16, “Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.” Because of Jesus, we can approach God boldly. Jesus has opened the way. At the same time, the writer of Hebrews gives us a stern warning. In Hebrew 12:28-29, he writes, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. By it we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”
What Owen warns against is approaching God carnally. The carnal mind cannot hold the tension between delight and fear in balance. A carnal worshiper will either approach God with only delight and treat God and the things or God irreverently or with only fear and fail to worship God with joy and delight.
Owen wrote that the cure for the imbalance is to be spiritually minded. How do we achieve spiritual mindedness? First, we must think biblically. God has told us about Himself in His Word, and we must accept His self-revelation. If He has commanded us to both fear Him and delight in Him, then we must obey that call. To do so, we must understand Him as His word reveals Him, a loving Father and awesome God.
We must also think often about grace. God is our rightful judge, and in our sinful state, we are only worthy of His wrath. He is our creator who surrounded us with beauty and glory and also, He is our rightful Lord. He is the God who gives His law and calls us to account. But He is the God who loved us so much that He gave His only Son for our salvation.
But we shouldn’t understand fear only in terms of fearing the One who can judge us. Fear also carries the ideas of reverence and awe. Both emotions and responses are fitting when we find ourselves in the presence of the one who is transcendent and infinite. Then, we find delight in that this One who holds the universe in place by the word of His power is the one who loves us so much that He gave His life a propitiation for our sins.
The balance between delight and fear is possible when we see God for who He is and ourselves as we are. Then, we must also grasp that His redeeming love and ongoing care for us. Then, we can worship with both delight and fear. We can boldly enter the presence of consuming fire.
[1] John Owen, Spiritual-Mindedness, Abridged edition by R.J.K. Law (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009) 88.