Thoughts for the Day

Jesus said, 'No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.'

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. So he said to them, 'You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.'

Thoughts

In the Hebrew and Roman world a slave could only belong to one person. Having two masters is not the same as have two separate jobs. Being a slave meant that you were owned by one person, although you might end up working at different jobs. Of course this whole concept of slavery is something we find completely dreadful and many of our police forces do all they can to stop modern-day slavery.

If we think we can serve two different masters today, we are completely deceiving ourselves. We can have money, and we can have God, but we cannot serve both money and God! A person who serves God can have money, but how they spend it will show that they are serving God, for they will remember others and seek to use it wisely for themselves and others. Nor can we ignore the fact that even the poor can serve God or money. All of us have the potential to serve God or 'mammon'. We need to ask ourselves whether whether we place too much importance on possessing things, and on acquiring new things. When we say we love God it should show in the way we live our life and in the way we spend our money.

Heavenly Father,
we are Your subjects,
and Your are our King.
May we be faithful to You
and serve You with honour.
May we use all the things
that You give us, wisely,
not just for ourselves
but for the good of others.
Amen.