Matthew 6:24

Matthew 6:24 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. You can’t have but one boss. If two bosses give you opposite orders, what are you to do? If you listen to one, you will be disobeying the other. But if you listen to the other you will be disobeying the first. And that is what Jesus is explaining in our verse. Our verse uses the word mammon, which is the old English word for the world. So, Jesus is saying that you have a choice: you can choose to serve God or you can choose to serve the world. But you can’t have it both ways. It’s easy to get caught up in the world. It may be that you are at Baseball practice and your friends are telling jokes. You are laughing at a funny joke and then another boy starts to tell something that sounds like it is not good. All the other boys are smiling and seem eager to hear what comes next. You know God is not pleased with you and you know your parents would not approve, but you don’t know what to do. You have to make a choice: you have to choose God or the world. Or it could be you are talking to a few friends after church when one girl brings up the name of a girl who isn’t present, and she begins to make fun of her and to run her down. You know that the turn of the discussion isn’t good. You know that God isn’t pleased when we gossip about someone. But if you speak up and defend the girl who is the target of the rude talk, everyone else will be embarrassed and will glare at you for correcting their manners. That’s just the way it is. You have to decide to do the right thing or just go along with the crowd. You have to choose between God and the world. And make no mistake. It isn’t easy to choose the right way. But afterwards, you are always glad when you do choose the right way. Always stop and think. Am I choosing to serve God or am I choosing to choose the world. Then, just do right. You will be glad that you did.