“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”  (Matthew 6:24)

Here Jesus famously says that you cannot serve both God and wealth (or “mammon” as the old King James says).  But we should also not miss the fact that there is a principle here that applies beyond merely the sin of avarice.  Jesus begins the verse by saying, “No one can serve two masters.”  So the principle is that you cannot serve two master of ANY kind — not just money.  This should cause each of us to search our souls about our commitment and priorities.

The truth is, you cannot serve God and ANYTHING else: popularity, sports, success, another love or person, etc. You can only ultimately be directed by ONE love and commitment, to which all others are subjected. When push comes to shove (which it does in the course of life every day) you can only have ONE top priority, to which everything else gives way.

You cannot be driven by two great loves at the same time. You will have your focus either on one, or the other, but not both. Your decisions and attitudes and actions every day will be made by whatever controls your life. What is that for you?  Are your decisions based on what it will do for your financially? Do you decide on the basis of how it will make you look? Or the way it will make you feel?

In the end, you make every decision of your life — not just the “big” ones, but every small step; every turn to the left or right: who you sit by, where you go, what you give, what you say — based on what is really ruling your life. As you make every one of those decisions, you make them with one master in mind:

— You cannot serve both God and money
— You cannot serve both God and popularity
— You cannot serve both God and lust
— You cannot serve both God and your own pride
— You cannot serve both God and “success”

There must be ONE ultimate ruler in your life — and for the genuine disciple, that ONE is GOD!  But everyone possessing a familiarity with the scriptures “knows” that; the searching question is: what really does rule your life?  Your everyday decisions and actions reveal it.  The truth is, you have only one Master.  Who or what is it really?