Some things are hard in life and then some things are impossible.  Jesus tells us about one of the impossible things in Matthew 6.

Matthew 6:24 (NKJV)
²⁴ “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Notice the scope of this declaration.  Jesus says that no one can serve two masters.  He is not talking about something difficult; He is referring to the impossible.  Now, let us first understand what Jesus is not teaching.

He is not teaching that a man cannot serve two masters in succession.  We have all done that, especially from a spiritual standpoint.  Before we obeyed the gospel, the Devil was our master.  However, now that we have obeyed the gospel and are servants of God, serving the devil at the same time is possible.

Something else  Jesus is not saying is that it is impossible to serve two masters who agree.  For example, we can be obedient to the civil government (Romans 13:1-2), while at the same time obeying God, as long as what they are demanding agrees.  If they do not, we must obey God (Acts 5:29).  So then, what is Jesus teaching us about serving two masters?

He is teaching that we cannot simultaneously serve two masters who are diametrically opposed to each other.  This is the case with God and mammon.  The demands and desires of mammon, i.e., wealth personified, are incompatible with the demands of God.  Thus, we cannot serve them both at the same time.  So, what can we learn from Jesus here?

Man Has a Choice

Since we have been created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), we are all capable of making choices in our lives.  The doctrine that says we have no free will and cannot choose whom to serve is an invention of man.  The Bible teaches that we can (Joshua 24:15).  The truth is that we can and must choose which avenue to pursue as we travel the road of life.  We must decide who our master will be, and the decision is not that hard.  If you serve mammon, what will you gain?  Perhaps some pleasure of the transitory sort.  However, if you serve God, the end will be eternal joy.  If you serve mammon, you might gain a little popularity, and other earthly rewards that will soon vanish with time, but if you serve God, you will receive a crown of life that fades not away.    The decision we should make is clear.

Man Cannot Remain Neutral

Many people are either dead or dying spiritually because they cannot make up their minds about which way to go spiritually, that is, whether to serve Jesus or mammon.  Some think they can have it both ways, but they cannot.  When Jesus says we cannot serve God and Mammon, He is not only annunciating the impossibility of serving two masters at the same time, He is declaring the unattainable nature of trying to stay on neutral ground.

What this choice is really all about is deciding who or what is going to be before everything else in our lives.  Is it going to be God or the material things of this world? Whether we have stopped to think about it or not, it is going to be one or the other.  It cannot be both, and it cannot be neither.  Someone or something is going to reign supreme in our lives, and the only question is what or who it is going to be.  This much we know—only one leads to eternal joy in heaven and that is allowing God to be the Master of our lives.  So, who are you serving?  I hope you are making the right decision.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.