my burg

"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, then I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefront besides is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."   (Martin Luther)

“The more wise, righteous, and holy people are without Christ, the more harm they do to the Gospel. So we also, who were religious, were doubly wicked until God enlightened us with the knowledge of his Gospel despite our apparently true piety and holiness.”   (Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians )

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  You shall have no other gods before me."  (Exodus 20:2-3 ESV) I have been meditating on this great truth. Martin Luther's commentary on this commandment in The Large Catechism is most insightful in applying what this means.  Here are a few excerpts... "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."  That is: "Thou shalt have [and worship] Me alone as thy God." What is the force of this, and how is it to be understood? What does it mean to have a god? or, what is God? Answer: A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him from the whole heart; as I have often said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and trust be right, then is your god also true; and, on the other hand, if your tr...