Who do you serve?

The words of Christ, “No one can serve two masters” (Matt 6:24) are very well known. Even my little three year old knows this verse. Christ’s words mean that we cannot serve God and worldly possessions. We cannot pursue a life of riches and possessions as an end and God. These two are incompatible. Who do you serve?

I think what’s interesting is that we cannot answer that question without a careful study of the following passage, Matthew 6:25-34. It’s in this passage that Christ calls us not to worry, to consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, and to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first. These are encouraging, hopeful, and very practical things to consider. A separate post of what all of these mean would only scratch the surface of their richness.

However, there is more in this passage. The context of the passage is clued to us with it’s beginning, ‘Therefore.’ Jesus is connecting these two thoughts together. He is connecting ‘you can only serve one master’ with ‘do not worry about your life.’ How do they fit? Worrying about this life reveals that mammon is our master. If we are consumed with anxiety about what we will eat, what we will drink, what we will wear, what will happen to our jobs, how our pension is crumbling we are revealing that the things of this world are master over us.

The question posed above could be restated, according to Matthew 6:25-34, Do you worry? Jesus is concerned with the kind of concern for the future that issues from a heart that does not find its rest in God. There is a good concern for the future that leads to a good work ethic and careful planning. This is what the Proverbs commend. The wrong concern is when we look out into the future and are overwhelmed with uncertainty that makes us unable to rest in the heavenly love and provision of God our Father.

It might be easy to say that God is the only One we serve. It’s harder to boast about our undivided service to Him when we see that anxiety about life’s necessities reveals that we have split loyalties.