Jesus warned His followers about serving 2 masters - The Almighty God and Mammon.
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. - Matthew 6:24 (KJV)
He said it is not possible to worship two masters, this is based on the Law of Middle Ground-
which states that: there’s no middle ground.
You cannot be in two places at the same time, you cannot have light in a room and at the same time have darkness. In the spiritual realm, you cannot sit on a spiritual fence. You are either in the kingdom of light or you are in darkness.
But verse 24 isn’t my focus today, my focus today is from verse 25, His sermon continues. The next verse continues with the word: ‘Therefore’
THEREFORE I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?- Matthew 6:25 (KJV)
Several translations have the word ‘therefore’ which is a conjunctive adverb. This tells us that the speaker was still speaking on the same subject of worshipping two masters.
‘Therefore’ from Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary means
there•fore adv. /ˈðeəfɔː(r) /
used to introduce the logical result of sth that has just been mentioned
Wow!!! 😲
To surmise this in a sentence: Jesus was going to tell us that when you worry about material things and well being - things that money can buy, you are serving mammon because those things have taken the place of God in you heart.
I think the New Living Translation does a good job by replacing the word ‘therefore’ with a relative clause ‘that is why’:
“THAT IS WHY I tell you not to WORRY ABOUT EVERYDAY LIFE—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? - Matthew 6:25 (NLT)
If I paraphrase verses 24 & 25 It will sound like this:
You can’t serve two masters, it is either you worship one of forsake the other or love one and hate the other. You can’t serve God and mammon, that is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life. Worrying about the cares of life takes the place of God in your heart.
So the reason why Jesus told them that they can’t serve 2 masters at the same time is, when one worries about the cares of life - what to eat, drink, wear etc they take their eyes away from the True Master whom they ought to serve and rely on. He went on and mentioned worry several times in verses 28,29,32 & 34.
How does one Overcome Worry?
Jesus and Paul didn’t leave us without a solution or solutions and ways out of worry, Jesus said:
Know that God knows
These things DOMINATE the THOUGHTS of UNBELIEVERS, but your heavenly Father ALREADY KNOWS all your needs.- Matthew 6:32 (NLT)
He said don’t worry about them, God our Father already knows our needs. When we worry, it sends the wrong vibe to God. Like we don’t believe He thinks good thoughts about us to bring us to an expected end as well as give us hope. We make it appear that we can do a better job taking care of ourselves than Him, by worrying our way through the crisis; we attempt to carry the burden ourselves.
Cast your Worry/Cares on Him
Know He knows, and ‘fling’ all the cares and worry on Him:
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. -1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)
Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. - Psalms 55:22 (NLT)
One way to cast your cares on Him is through prayers another is training your mind not to brood on the cares, Paul teaches us how to next.
Fix your Thoughts
Thirdly, God knows that when we are emotionally balanced in our minds, we will be more healthy mentally. That’s why Jesus said that these things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, as Christians they shouldn’t dominate our mind.
Paul gave us a list of things that should dominate the mind of a believer for a healthy mind:
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. FIX YOUR THOUGHTS on what is TRUE, and HONORABLE, and RIGHT, and PURE, and LOVELY, and ADMIRABLE. Think about things that are EXCELLENT and WORTHY of PRAISE.- Philippians 4:8 (NLT)
You might jump on me and say Paul wasn’t talking about all these things as a solution to worry. Then I say to you, “you might have to look at the pre-text in verse 6”, which takes me to the next point.
Pray about it
Don’t WORRY about anything; INSTEAD, PRAY about everything. Tell God what you need, and THANK him for all he has done. - Philippians 4:6 (NLT)
You can see clearly Paul was handling the subject of worry. This is an important subject that contends with worship in our hearts.
Paul said pray about it and forget it. Don’t spend hours brooding and thinking about it especially if it is out of your control, next,
Thanksgiving
After praying, step into thanksgiving. Start with thanking him for all the things He did for you in the past, then step into thanking Him for the present worries as though it has been solved and your prayers answered - this is a show of faith in God who already knows that we have need of these things. Thanksgiving is a key that unlocks indescribable peace. This peace is the atmosphere where miracles thrive:
Then you will experience GOD’S PEACE, an indescribable warm feeling on your inside that calms you and tells you, ‘it is done!’, ‘it has been handled’.
His PEACE will GUARD your HEARTS and MINDS as you live in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:7 (NLT)
This unusual peace, the calm in the midst of storm, guards your heart and mind. This is the peace that Jesus had when He slept through the storm in the boat. This peace gives no place to worry and consequently, mammon, in your heart.
Practice Peace
Finally, practice these steps, the peace of God is unlocked when you cast your cares, worry, anxieties on Him through prayer, thank Him and fix your mind on the word of God:
KEEP PUTTING into PRACTICE all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. THEN the God of peace will be with you. - Philippians 4:9 (NLT)
May the God of Peace dwell in you as your miracles hastens.
No more depression!
No more suicidal thoughts!
Answered Prayers!
Met Dreams, Visions, Goals & Desires!
💗
See you at the next one!
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