One Master

“No one 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 God and mammon." Mt 6:24

We know the Gospel tells us that can't serve two masters. How about three or four or ten?  When we think about our lives it often becomes obvious that we are trying to do too much for too many people and this can lead to resentment of all those we intended to serve. Time becomes our master, or security or accomplishment or power, but when we stop to reflect upon these matters we know that the Gospel challenge to have one master is spot on and powerful.

We need to commit ourselves on a daily basis to serving God alone. Only God can be our master and the task of the believer is to discern how best to serve this master each day. When we take time to pray about this we often reach a counter intuitive conclusion. Serving God alone does not mean saying yes to every needy person or important cause, but learning to ask God each day how to go forward, how to help, how to serve and how to announce the Good News.

Years ago I remember asking a bishop not to tell his priests that he often got up in the middle of the night to write his weekly newspaper column. It might have been fine for the bishop since he was a chronic insomniac, but it was not good modeling for men who were already trying to manage and lead two or three parishes.  I am not sure he listened when I asked him to stop, but I still wonder what master he was following by trumpeting his compulsions.

Today, ask God how best to live the Good News.

Which of your concerns most often gets in the way of serving God.