Skip to content
quotesby

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 trust be false and wrong, then you have not the true God; for these two belong together faith and God. That now, I say, upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god.

Martin Luther#5

FaithBeliefGodWorshipTrust

About this quote

What does it mean?
Luther defines having a god as trusting and believing in something with your whole heart.
In plain terms
Your god is whatever you trust and believe in most.
What can you take from it?
Your highest trust defines what you worship.

Where it applies

  • spiritual search
  • reflection
  • decision making

Putting it to work

  • identify values
  • examine trust
  • choose priorities

Questions to consider

  • What do you trust most?
  • How do you define your god?

Another view

This definition is very broad and includes non-theistic beliefs.

More from Martin Luther

  1. If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. Go…

    Permalink to quote #4
  2. But since the devil's bride, Reason, that pretty whore, comes in and thinks she's wise, and what she says, what she thinks, is from the Holy Spirit, who can he…

    Permalink to quote #6
  3. Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge…

    Permalink to quote #3

Related quotes

  1. I believe in the existence of an immaterial God, the Author and Master of all beings and all things, and I feel that I never had any doubt of His existence, fr…

    Giacomo CasanovaGiacomo Casanova quote #6
  2. Creo en Dios porque creo a Dios.

    Miguel de UnamunoMiguel de Unamuno quote #29
  3. You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.

    Swami VivekanandaSwami Vivekananda quote #3