Let no day slip over without some comfort received from the mouth of God.
I have never once feared the devil, but I tremble every time I enter the pulpit.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects a deep sense of responsibility in leadership and the power of words spoken from a position of authority.
John Knox expresses an intriguing perspective on the weighing nature of speaking out in a religious context. While he claims not to fear the devil—often seen as a metaphor for evil or temptation—he acknowledges a profound trepidation when entering the pulpit, highlighting the seriousness and impact of delivering messages that guide and influence others. This sense of responsibility reflects a recognition of the potential consequences of one's words, particularly in the context of spiritual leadership.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on accountability, one might quote Knox to emphasize the weight of one’s words.
More from John Knox
All quotes →The testimony of scripture is so plain that to add anything were superfluous, were it not that the world is almost now come to that blindness, that whatsoever pleases not the princes and the multitude, the same is rejected as doctrine newly forged, and is condemned for heresy.
As touching nature I am a worm of this earth, and yet a subject of this commonwealth; but as touching the office wherein it has pleased God to place me, I am a watchman... For that reason I am bound in conscience to blow the trumpet publicly.
I will keep the ground that God has given me and perhaps in his grace, he will ignite me again. But ignite me or not, in his grace, in his power, I will hold the ground.
A man with God is always in the majority.
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If one, then, asks me the meaning of our flag, I say to him, It means just what Concord and Lexington meant, what Bunker Hill meant; it means the whole glorious Revolutionary War, which was, in short, the rising up of a valiant young people against an old tyranny, to establish the most momentous doctrine that the world had ever known - the right of men to their own selves and to their liberties.
I don't believe in God but I'm very interested in her.
For often, when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.
Rover did not know in the least where the moon's path led to, and at present he was much too frightened and excited to ask, and anyway he was beginning to get used to extraordinary things happening to him.
Repentance is simply giving up to stop fighting against God and to stop attempting to gain your own salvation through your own works; to literally give up and fall upon Christ. That is salvation.
Spiritual formation in a Christian tradition answers a specific human question: 'What kind of person am I going to be?' It is the process of establishing the character of Christ in the person. That's all it is.