Whom, Or What, Will You Serve?

22 Sep

No servant can serve two masters. 
He will either hate one and love the other,
or be devoted to one and despise the other. 
You cannot serve both God and mammon.  (Lk 16:13)

As we grow up, we find that we often put our allegiance in many places.

Our first allegiance is typically toward our family.  Our mom and dad are crucial to us.  They supply all of our needs and we want to do everything possible to make sure that we remain on their good side.

As we get older, our allegiance is placed with our friends.  They become the most important people in our lives, oftentimes supplanting our allegiance to our family.

When we enter school — throughout grade school, high school, and college — our allegiances may shift away from friends because what becomes most important to us is a sport or an activity or a group, club, fraternity, or sorority.

At our job, we often place a great deal emphasis on what we need to do to get ahead and, if possible, be the boss.  We make allegiances and break allegiances as quickly as possible in order to garner the top spot.

In all of this, God should be first and foremost in our lives.

God is the one, after all, who has blessed us with our families and friends.  God is the one who has given us the talents we need to excel in academics and/or sports.  God is the one who has given us the intellect to achieve success in our career.

Yet God is often the last one to be noticed or thanked because we are too busy serving our own goals, our own greed, our own avarice.

Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel that we cannot serve two masters.

Is this world — and all that it has to offer — our master?  Or, are we going to embrace God?

FAITH ACTION:  Take a critical look at what you value in life.  How near the top of your list is God?  If He is not at the top of your list, decide what you need to do to ensure that God is the one whom you serve.