Two Masters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhvaDJTUmrU (listen as you read if you like- it's what I listened to over and over as I wrote this...)
Matthew 6:24- "No one can serve two masters. For he will love the one and hate the other." There is great truth in that statement. It is truly impossible to serve fully two masters. Obviously you can love and care for more than one person, but service and mastership is a completely different issue.
Master: An owner, one having ownership over an another, one having authority.
Servant: one that serves completely another; one who performs the duties given by another.
Interestingly enough, the Greek for this specific text reads that one cannot serve two κύριος- lords. κύριος= Lord, master, owner, one having control over another human's fate. The word used for servant is δούλος which means 'slave, one bound in service.' If you want to look up English definitions further for Lord and Slave, go ahead, but I think the point is made. These words carry heavier meanings that perhaps the usual meaning of 'master' or 'serve' in the English language.
So I started asking, what are the 'competing masters' in my life, and oh there are many. To name a few:
-people's approval
-beauty
-having 'pretty things'
-desires (whether noble or sinful)
-selfishness
-prestige
Taking that further, I thought, if I were to live my life as ONLY in service to the King- my κύριος Jesus, what would that look like? The daily pressures and anxieties I feel to do things or be things...would I still feel them and find myself bound by them? We are in need of discernment to distinguish what things the TRUE Master is telling us. Any and Every thing else, we do not HAVE to do/be. The voice of the world tells me a lot...a lot more than I think:
- buy this
- you need this in life
- do this thing
- look like this
- you don't like this
- you could never live with this thing
- you must have time for this
- etc etc etc
We carry over what the world tells us into all our human relationships and endeavors: dating, marriage, friendship, our jobs, our affinities. I wonder if we could really sit face to face with God and explain all our likes, dislikes, desires, and needs, if He would say "yes, those are all from me." I mean, even my preferences are stained with the WORLD'S opinions and what it tells me. Do I REALLY prefer skim milk to other milk? Is it REALLY the taste and my taste buds or am I somehow deep down so scared with the fact that whole milk is fattening and bad for me that I can barely stand a drop of it? Do I REALLY know that I could never marry a non-athletic person because I am an athletic person...or do I just feel I would need that in a happy marriage. I mean, perhaps some of our things are noble even....do I really think I could never marry a person not in ministry....or is EVEN that somehow influenced my idealistic picture of marriage for myself, if it happened one day. Sure, we should be careful lest we become monks who deny all our God given ability to reason and discern; yet, we must not blindly assume affinities are holy.
If you'd allow me to go on a little bit more of a tangent, I even ask...what about things we consider ugly. Look at the world...the trees, flowers, stars, animals. God doesn't make 'ugly.' He looked at creation and called it 'good.' When I see things I think appear 'ugly,' is it because they actually are....in reality are they ugly? Like, reality as in how God's sees...the TRUE reality. OR, are even my affinities to appearance influenced by the world? Is any person truly UGLY? What makes 'ugly' to me is completely designed by the world's influence...and I don't even realize it normally. Perhaps I should spend less time contemplating what I don't like about people and how I feel toward them and more time contemplating the mind of Christ and praying for it's formation in me...that I may see the world and others as Jesus sees it/them...I mean, wouldn't that be part of sanctification...becoming more like Jesus? How, then, could I say "I do not find you beautiful. I am not attracted to that person." Do we have the right to be 'unattracted' to someone. Not if our attractions were holy and sanctified....
Continuing on with the chapter (and stopping my tangent), I began to reflect on the truth that I live by...that god has a perfect plan for the lives of His children. Thus, He must have means to provide for exactly the NEEDS and HOLY affinities that I need. He will provide enough downtime for me to carry out His business. I may feel I need more, but He knows how much I truly need. He knows what my human body, mind, and spirit need. So I say, Jesus, I'd like to have more time to paint and shop for a couch (which I don't have). I trust He will provide that in His time and sustain me in the meantime. Jesus, I'd like to be a mother. He withholds NO GOOD THING. If being a mother is good for me and in His good plans for His glory and my becoming like Christ, He will not withhold it. If it is not, well then I praise God He doesn't allow it, and pray He won't.
Vs. 25: So don't be anxious about your life. I don't have to be. It's not my responsibility. How much time a day do I spend worrying and being anxious over things with which Jesus never asks me to concern myself and worry AND things about which, honestly, I can't really do anything.
Vs. 32: Your Heavenly Father knows what you NEED. God, renew our minds- may we see each other and think of our lives with YOUR mind. May we find the freedom in trusting You with everything! EVERYTHING! our 'desires, needs, affinities, dreams, etc...'
Vs 33: but...do this one thing: Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the rest, He'll take care of...
Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow- God will handle it. God will handle you...Don't waste your life trying to do God's job.
So in closing, I come back to the beginning. To whom am I 'enslaved?' I must serve something. Everyone does. This chapter tells us we can't serve God and μαμμωνάς (Greek for possessions or mammon). We can't serve God and any of the other things in our life. AND, if we are serving God, allowing HIM to be our LORD (our owner), then our anxieties about other 'things' in our lives are null and void because our MASTER says He will handle them.
Unfortunately, if you watched my every day life and could get inside my head, you'd see the huge waging war...the battle....between service to God and service to a great many things. I pray today that I may only be in service to God and for the wisdom and mind of Christ given by the Holy Spirit to distinguish the call of my true Master vs. the call of other competition.
Matthew 6:24- "No one can serve two masters. For he will love the one and hate the other." There is great truth in that statement. It is truly impossible to serve fully two masters. Obviously you can love and care for more than one person, but service and mastership is a completely different issue.
Master: An owner, one having ownership over an another, one having authority.
Servant: one that serves completely another; one who performs the duties given by another.
Interestingly enough, the Greek for this specific text reads that one cannot serve two κύριος- lords. κύριος= Lord, master, owner, one having control over another human's fate. The word used for servant is δούλος which means 'slave, one bound in service.' If you want to look up English definitions further for Lord and Slave, go ahead, but I think the point is made. These words carry heavier meanings that perhaps the usual meaning of 'master' or 'serve' in the English language.
So I started asking, what are the 'competing masters' in my life, and oh there are many. To name a few:
-people's approval
-beauty
-having 'pretty things'
-desires (whether noble or sinful)
-selfishness
-prestige
Taking that further, I thought, if I were to live my life as ONLY in service to the King- my κύριος Jesus, what would that look like? The daily pressures and anxieties I feel to do things or be things...would I still feel them and find myself bound by them? We are in need of discernment to distinguish what things the TRUE Master is telling us. Any and Every thing else, we do not HAVE to do/be. The voice of the world tells me a lot...a lot more than I think:
- buy this
- you need this in life
- do this thing
- look like this
- you don't like this
- you could never live with this thing
- you must have time for this
- etc etc etc
We carry over what the world tells us into all our human relationships and endeavors: dating, marriage, friendship, our jobs, our affinities. I wonder if we could really sit face to face with God and explain all our likes, dislikes, desires, and needs, if He would say "yes, those are all from me." I mean, even my preferences are stained with the WORLD'S opinions and what it tells me. Do I REALLY prefer skim milk to other milk? Is it REALLY the taste and my taste buds or am I somehow deep down so scared with the fact that whole milk is fattening and bad for me that I can barely stand a drop of it? Do I REALLY know that I could never marry a non-athletic person because I am an athletic person...or do I just feel I would need that in a happy marriage. I mean, perhaps some of our things are noble even....do I really think I could never marry a person not in ministry....or is EVEN that somehow influenced my idealistic picture of marriage for myself, if it happened one day. Sure, we should be careful lest we become monks who deny all our God given ability to reason and discern; yet, we must not blindly assume affinities are holy.
If you'd allow me to go on a little bit more of a tangent, I even ask...what about things we consider ugly. Look at the world...the trees, flowers, stars, animals. God doesn't make 'ugly.' He looked at creation and called it 'good.' When I see things I think appear 'ugly,' is it because they actually are....in reality are they ugly? Like, reality as in how God's sees...the TRUE reality. OR, are even my affinities to appearance influenced by the world? Is any person truly UGLY? What makes 'ugly' to me is completely designed by the world's influence...and I don't even realize it normally. Perhaps I should spend less time contemplating what I don't like about people and how I feel toward them and more time contemplating the mind of Christ and praying for it's formation in me...that I may see the world and others as Jesus sees it/them...I mean, wouldn't that be part of sanctification...becoming more like Jesus? How, then, could I say "I do not find you beautiful. I am not attracted to that person." Do we have the right to be 'unattracted' to someone. Not if our attractions were holy and sanctified....
Continuing on with the chapter (and stopping my tangent), I began to reflect on the truth that I live by...that god has a perfect plan for the lives of His children. Thus, He must have means to provide for exactly the NEEDS and HOLY affinities that I need. He will provide enough downtime for me to carry out His business. I may feel I need more, but He knows how much I truly need. He knows what my human body, mind, and spirit need. So I say, Jesus, I'd like to have more time to paint and shop for a couch (which I don't have). I trust He will provide that in His time and sustain me in the meantime. Jesus, I'd like to be a mother. He withholds NO GOOD THING. If being a mother is good for me and in His good plans for His glory and my becoming like Christ, He will not withhold it. If it is not, well then I praise God He doesn't allow it, and pray He won't.
Vs. 25: So don't be anxious about your life. I don't have to be. It's not my responsibility. How much time a day do I spend worrying and being anxious over things with which Jesus never asks me to concern myself and worry AND things about which, honestly, I can't really do anything.
Vs. 32: Your Heavenly Father knows what you NEED. God, renew our minds- may we see each other and think of our lives with YOUR mind. May we find the freedom in trusting You with everything! EVERYTHING! our 'desires, needs, affinities, dreams, etc...'
Vs 33: but...do this one thing: Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the rest, He'll take care of...
Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow- God will handle it. God will handle you...Don't waste your life trying to do God's job.
So in closing, I come back to the beginning. To whom am I 'enslaved?' I must serve something. Everyone does. This chapter tells us we can't serve God and μαμμωνάς (Greek for possessions or mammon). We can't serve God and any of the other things in our life. AND, if we are serving God, allowing HIM to be our LORD (our owner), then our anxieties about other 'things' in our lives are null and void because our MASTER says He will handle them.
Unfortunately, if you watched my every day life and could get inside my head, you'd see the huge waging war...the battle....between service to God and service to a great many things. I pray today that I may only be in service to God and for the wisdom and mind of Christ given by the Holy Spirit to distinguish the call of my true Master vs. the call of other competition.
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