Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Slavery

Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 


This is only one of the places where conflict between God's will and our will is perfectly clear. No two masters. Which master do you love? You can only serve one remember. Money for me is just a symbol of the many masters which can take us from being servants of the one true master. St. Paul  teach us that we have all been slaves to sin. We have chosen to serve a mater other than Jesus. Maybe it is fame or recognition we serve. On the other hand it might be health beauty and/or fitness that we serve. These and more are masters that can claim us as slaves.

It is not that money is evil in and of itself, or security or health. It is that they are meant to fill a lesser priority in our lives. The reading continues: Therefore I tell youdo not be anxious about your life,what you shall eat or what you shall drinknor about your body,what you shall put onIs not life more than foodand the body more than clothingLook at the birds of the airthey neither sow nor reap nor gather into barnsand yet your heavenly Father feeds themAre you not of more value than theyAnd which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of lifeAnd why are you anxious about clothingConsider the lilies of the fieldhow they growthey neither toil nor spinyet I tellyoueven Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of theseBut if God so clothes the grass of the fieldwhich today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the ovenwill he not much more clothe youO men of little faithTherefore do not be anxioussaying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek all these thingsand your heavenly Father knows that you need them allBut seek first his kingdom and his righteousnessand all these thingsshall be yours as well.
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrowfor tomorrow will be anxious for itselfLet the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day." The problem is we don't trust God. We fill ourselves with anxieties of one kind or another and try to be our own master. We find in time that we have been deceived and we have been serving the wrong master. Scripture says that we have not been set free in order to become slaves to sin again. If Christ has set us free we are free indeed. Jesus is the only master that will never take away the unbreakable gift of free choice. So serve God, be free.

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