Tuesday, September 18, 2012
WHAT IS IT TO HAVE A GOD?
From the Large Catechism (Luther's comments on the First Commandment):
+ "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." "What does that mean? What is it to have a god? Answer: To whatever we look for any good thing and for refuge in every need, that is what is meant by "god." To have a god is nothing else than to trust in him from the heart. If your faith and confidence are the right kind, then your God is the true God. If your trust is false or misdirected, then you do not have the true God. To whatever you give your heart and entrust your being, that, I say, is really your God."
+ "Many a person imagines he has God and everything he needs, provided he has money and property. He relies on these and feels so immovably secure that he cares about no one. But look, he too has a god, named mammon. Mammon is the world's favorite idol. One who has money and property has a sense of security and feels as happy and fearless as if he were sitting in the midst of paradise. On the other hand, one who has nothing is as insecure and anxiety-ridden as if he had never heard of God. Very few can be found who keep a cheerful spirit and neither fret nor complain when they are without mammon. The desire for riches sticks glued to our nature right up to the grave."
+ "So now you can easily understand what it is and how much it is that this commandment requires. It requires that your whole heart and all your confidence be given to God alone and no one else. To have God is not a matter of grasping Him with your fingers or putting Him into a wallet or shutting Him up in a strong box. Laying hold of God means that our heart clings to Him and that we place ourselves completely into His hands. He wants to turn us away from everything else, and to draw us to Himself, because He is the only eternal good. It is as if He were to say: Everything that you formerly sought to find in the saints or which you confidently expected from mammon or from whatever else, look to Me for all that: recognize Me as the One who wants to help you and is anxious richly to lavish upon you every good thing."
Who trusts in God a strong abode In heaven and earth possesses;
Who looks in love to Christ above, No fear his heart oppresses.
In Thee alone, dear Lord, we own Sweet hope and consolation,
Our Shield from foes, our Balm for woes, Our great and sure Salvation.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 437:1)
