Serving Two Masters

"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." –Matthew 6:24

I believe this verse goes beyond the aspect of serving God versus money. The Amplified Bible translates it as, "deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever is trusted in."

We're all guilty at times of attempting to serve God while serving our own desires apart from Him. And yet we know the outcome is always negative. Any time we place something or someone on our altar, so to speak, and elevate it above the Lord Jesus, we attempt to take away the power and total sufficiency of the Cross!

We can't serve both. It's like mixing oil and water, there will always be division and a settling for one over the other.

Serving Him comes when we choose to accept Him as our Savior and Lord. It comes when we realize that living this life apart from knowing Him and His wonder, grace and love, is a futile and lonely existence. It comes when we acknowledge that Jesus alone is the way, the truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6) Serving Him is the outpouring of our love for Him in response to all He has done and continues to do for us. And we have a say in the matter of who or what we will serve.

Commingling Jesus with anything or anyone else will thankfully, never bring one fulfillment. So in the words of Joshua…

"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." –Joshua 24:15

Much love to you.

—Dave

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Reflecting on the horrific tragedy in Connecticut

Dear Friend,

How much more evil do we need to see demonstrated throughout the world to convince us that things are not getting better here? We can think all the positive thoughts we want and continue on our merry way in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, but reality is shouting at us something very different.

If you think that with enough human goodness and reform we can turn this world around than you are deaf, dumb and blind. Is it any surprise that we as a nation, as a world, after a generation of walking away from God and His moral absolutes, have sunk this low? We can blame handguns and demand for more control, but never come to the root cause of this disease. Quite simply it’s sin in the heart of man. And the enemy of mankind, the devil himself, is laughing all the way to Hell.

If you’re not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ then your blindness seems understandable. But if you are a believer and deny these things then please wake up. This “age of grace” is coming to a close quickly. God is incredibly patient and long suffering, but a time is coming when He will judge evil.

We can't say He hasn’t warned us with signs and wonders lately. Just look at the calamities around the world these past few years. Are you still going to say, “Oh, these things have always happened.”?! I'm not saying that God Himself is the author of all these disasters. Man can claim much responsibility himself. But I believe He has been shaking things up to get our attention off of our happy-go-lucky, independent selves and on to our dire need for Him.

It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. And Jesus remains our only hope. Do you know Him? I mean more than head knowing. Do you know Him as your Lord and Savior? He made it so incredibly difficult for Himself to give you eternal life, with His willingness to die on a cross for our sins, but so incredibly easy for you to receive it. Please receive Him now. He loves you more than you’ll ever realize.

As the apostle Paul wrote:

“In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." — 2 Corinthians 6:2

And again:

“if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” —Romans 10:9

The Good News (aka: the Gospel) is just that, good news to a world corrupted by sin: God  Himself became a man like one of us. He lived a sinless life and became the perfect, righteous sacrifice for our sins. He died, but death couldn’t hold him in the ground. He arose and now lives in hearts of those who know Him, who call Him Lord. The Good News is that He invites us to know Him and to be known by Him. He invites us into a relationship that is wonderful, eternal, true, fulfilling life now and forever.

I pray you consider this message and seek Him today while the light is still shining. It’s getting darker by the moment.

Much love and hope for you,

—Dave