Two Bosses

When I was a rising junior in high school, I worked for a sod company in the summer.  My younger brother, Phillip, my older cousin, Gene, and four friends from church, Richard, Rex, Dave, and Johnnie worked with me as well.  The foreman was Ed L. and he was not like what you would expect a boss to be.  He was laid-back and almost a slob.  His shirt was unbuttoned to his mid-section, which was easily visible since he was overweight.  His brown fedora hat was greasy around the hatband from sweat and had several holes in it.  His lace-up work boots were never laced up and looked like they had never ever been laced up.  But Ed was likeable and could motivate us to work.  Picking up sod was dirty, hot, and tedious work, but Ed almost made it fun.  Almost.  Ed’s boss, Tom Barberry was the owner of the company and exactly the opposite.  He was detailed and ran his business by the book.  The only reason that Mr. Barberry had Ed on the job was that if Tom was on the job, he would have half of the crew fired by lunchtime and the other half would be at each other’s throats.  Ed was able to keep the crew working and enjoying it.  So, when Mr. Barberry showed up, we knew to do things his way … just while he was present.  When he barked a few orders and made his presence felt, he was satisfied and left.  Then we could get back to normal with Ed running things.  Hey, it isn’t possible to keep two bosses happy.  Jesus knew that when He said in 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.”  Hey, you must make a decision in your life.  You can serve God, or you can serve money and the world-system.  You can’t do both.  It’s that simple.  Oh, Christians need a job to pay the bills, but the job is never our “god”.  So, my question for you today is, “Who is your boss?  The Lord or the Dollar?”  Remember, you can’t serve both.