"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other…You cannot serve both God and Money.” Matthew 6:24 (NIV)
These words from Jesus appear in Matthew’s account of the Gospel in the context of Jesus speaking to crowds of people who were following Him, as well as His disciples. In Matthew chapters 5-7 Jesus is teaching very practically on what being a follower of Him actually looks like.
Being salt and light, loving your enemies, being generous, praying, fasting, and living for the sake of His Heavenly Kingdom, instead of the worldly one. Much of this resonates with what we’ve been learning so far in our series called Citizens, as we seek to learn what it means to live as citizens of Heaven, while living as citizens of this earth.
Towards the end of Matthew chapter 6, Jesus talks about the rather upside down idea of storing up treasures in Heaven, instead of building wealth and resources for ourselves here on earth. And in verse 24, Jesus says:
No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other…You cannot serve both God and Money.
As I think about the implications of this verse in my own life, what really hits home with me is this idea of trying to serve God and ANYTHING else. It doesn’t have to just be money, although for some, it is. But you cannot serve both God and money. You cannot serve both God and pride. God and yourself, your agenda, your career, worldly pleasures and pretty much ANYTHING else.
We are being called to serve God and God ALONE.
Because really, when you replace the word “Money” with whatever your idol is [and believe me, we ALL have them…I know I do], you begin to see that you have a choice to make. It’s either:
God or X [Insert Idol Here]
Because when we try to serve God and ANYTHING or ANYONE else, we fall short of giving God ALL that belongs to Him. Matthew 6:24 in the The Message translation of the Bible says it like this:
You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.
So my challenge for us is this: Which God or god will you and I choose to serve? When you choose the One and Only God who offers you everlasting satisfaction through Jesus, all the other gods pale in comparison. When you choose any other god [idols] you will find yourself in an endless cycle of never being satisfied and always wanting more.
The choice is yours. Choose wisely.
