Serving two masters; God vs the world.

When talking about serving two masters Matthew 6:24 is the most referenced verse, it says

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (KJV)

Another scripture we can look at is Exodus 20:3-5

“3. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

5. thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me”

Why can’t you serve two masters?

The two masters in question are the world and God. Why is it necessary to choose between the world and God? Why can’t you love the things of the world and God simultaneously?

As we can see from the verses above, The bible is very clear on God's stance on this topic. A lot of people want to have the “best of both worlds”, they want to be able to love the things of the world and love the things of God also.

The thing is, if you choose to serve God, then serving anything or anyone else contradicts that choice.

How? The Bible says to love the Lord with all your heart, how does one achieve this when your heart is split between two owners?

There’s also the fact that most of the things celebrated in the world go against the word of God. As Matthew 6:24 rightly says, when you serve 2 masters you tend to lean more towards one than the other.

It starts with little things like thinking “I can pray later, let me just finish this show” when your prayer alarm rings. It starts with things you may consider as “no big deal”, 10 more minutes of phone time when it's the time you set aside for devotion. Choosing to dedicate the time you set aside for God to chase money because after all “God knows your heart” Going to that concert instead of the church program you committed to. It could even be a relationship; you become so involved with another human being that you push the things of God aside for them.

Slowly you start exalting other things above God. Soon enough, the things of the world become what you think about the most. They become your idols

How then do we make sure that we don't exalt anything or anyone above God?

• Pray

Do you remember that song that was taught in Sunday school about prayer being the master key? Well, it's true, you can pray to God about anything and everything.

When you notice that other things are beginning to seem more important to you than God, tell him.

Ask him to help you to get back on track, to focus on him above any other thing.

• Set structures

Don’t pray in isolation, make a commitment to try and do better, set out times for prayer and devotion, and stick to them. Do not hit snooze on your alarm when it rings, set alarms 5 or 10 minutes before your designated prayer time so you’re in the right state of mind.

Make God your priority.

• Take interest in the things of God

I’ve seen people say that being a Christian is boring and that’s why they look to the things of the world for pleasure, but that is far from the truth.

People recently have said that the Chosen tv show has made them go read their bibles. If you’re someone who enjoys tv shows a lot you can watch shows like that. If you are someone who likes music, there is a lot of amazing gospel music out in different genres.

You can take these and replace shows or music that you like that isn’t pleasing to God.

As a Christian, yes serving God is done out of duty but it should also be done out of delight.

• Read your Bible

You might find it hard to serve God and only God if you do not know God.

We have a way to get to know God, get to know his nature, and discover his love for us anew. That way is the bible. God provided us with a way to get to know him, he is not just some enigma who we serve blindly.

Get to know God for yourself, build a relationship with him and discover why he is the only one worthy of our service.

Written By Seun Ojo