Thoughts for the Day

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.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

After the closure of an RAF base in the 1960s where I had worked as the Station Commander's PA, I was switched to a unit a few miles away that was being newly established, with three people initially, two RAF Officers and myself. Within a year things had changed but for some months I worked for two bosses. They both had separate offices, with mine squeezed between their two rooms. On my desk I had "In" and "Out" trays for both of them.

One boss would rush in with a pile of work and dump it in his "In" tray, and without a word would disappear. The other gave me a fair bit of work though nothing complicated, but always smiled his thanks and rarely changed his mind. The first one would demand the finished work half an later, then change the whole thing so I had to type it all over again, and there was never a "Thank you". Needless to say this arrangement wasn't satisfactory, and as the unit expanded I soon went back to working for the new Commander!

In the story of the two masters in Luke's gospel, Jesus is effectively saying we cannot serve God and the world at the same time! We cannot seek to gain riches and also work for God! If you're not sure what Jesus means ask yourself this: "What would I sacrifice to have a job that would give me an extremely high salary - for instance would I be willing to give up more of my time, or see my loved ones less - or what?" Then ask yourself: "Would I sacrifice these things solely for God?" Most of us, if we are truly honest, would find it difficult to sacrifice these things for God, and if we did would find the tension between the two sides of life, difficult. =Perhaps we need to ask God's help to sit lighter to the world, and remember the story of the two masters!

Lord God,
sometimes it is only in moments
of danger or sickness
that we see what is important in our lives -
that health, loved ones, and food and shelter
are what really matter in this world,
rather than material goods.
It is only then that we can appreciate
the hardship and struggle that others have,
and learn to put our resources to good use:
to help those in greater need,
knowing that by doing so we are serving You.
Amen.