The carnal person fears man, not God. The strong Christian fears God, not man. The weak Christian fears man too much, and God too little.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the differing fears and priorities of individuals regarding their relationship with God and humans.
John Flavel's quote emphasizes the spiritual journey of a person in relation to faith and fear. It categorizes individuals based on their focus: the carnal person is preoccupied with the opinions and actions of others, fearing man over God; the strong Christian recognizes God's supremacy and fears Him above all else; while the weak Christian struggles with misplaced priorities, being overly concerned about human judgment and neglecting the awe and fear due to God. This encourages self-reflection on what governs one's actions and beliefs.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the importance of prioritizing God in our lives.
All the tears of a penitent sinner, should he shed as many as there have fallen drops of rain, since the creation, to this day, cannot wash away one sin. The everLasting burnings in hell, cannot purify the flaming conscience, from the least sin.
All the dark, intricate, puzzling providences at which we were sometimes so offended...we shall [one day] see to be to us, as the difficult passage through the wilderness was to Israel, "the right way to the city of habitation".
Providence is like a curious piece of tapestry made of a thousand shreds, which, single, appear useless, but put together, they represent a beautiful history to the eye.
Whatsoever we have over-loved, idolized, and leaned upon, God has from time to time broken it, and made us to see the vanity of it; so that we find the readiest course to be rid of our comforts is to set our hearts inordinately upon them.
It is the duty of the saints, especially in times of straights, to reflect upon the performances of Providence for them in all the states and through all the stages of their lives.
Providence so orders the case, that faith and prayer come between our wants and supplies, and the goodness of God may be the more magnified in our eyes thereby.
This earth indeed is the very Body of God, and it is from this body that we are born, live, suffer, and resurrect to eternal life. Either all is God's Great Project, or we may rightly wonder whether anything is God's Great Project. One wonders if we humans will be the last to accept this.
I don't believe we have a professional self Monday through Friday and a real self the rest of the time. It is all professional, and it is all personal.
Simplicity and order are, if not the principal, then certainly the most important guidelines for human beings in general.
At moments of wonder, it is easy to avoid small thinking, to entertain thoughts that span the universe, that capture both thunder and tinkle, thick and thin, the near and the far.
The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace, The prurient ape's defiling touch: And do you like the human race? No, not much.
While the miser is merely a capitalist gone mad, the capitalist is a rational miser.
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