ONE of the most poignant statements of Jesus Christ, and which must not be lost on Christians as they journey through this new year, is His declaration: “No man can serve two masters”. Jesus is in essence, showing the utter impossibility of serving two incompatible and different masters. No one can sit on the fence when it comes to declaring their stand concerning Jesus. As light and darkness are different, so God and Satan, God and idols, God and the world, God and mammon, God and self are poles apart. Satan, the God of this world, craves to be the master of men. You, therefore, have a choice to make this new year, if you truly desire to serve God.

To serve God is to give your heart to Him supremely, to allow Him to reign over you and rule your decisions and actions. You cannot serve God and at the same time give your heart, interest and devotion to any other incompatible object. Serving God as master demands that you reject lordship of Satan and other gods; loving God implies that you hate any competitor that will take your heart away from Him; holding on to God makes you despise the world and all the allurements of the flesh. Knowing the utter impossibility of serving God and mammon, you make an irreversible covenant with God this new year, to serve Him only, always and ever.

Christ’s declaration that “No man can serve two masters”, rings true at all times, in all ages. It is a law of human nature that a servant cannot serve two masters at the same time. His affection, loyalty and obedience would be divided and he would fail altogether in his duties to one or the other. No one can serve the true God, and at the same time be supremely engaged in loving the world or serving any selfish interests. Devotion to the world and the things of the world will necessarily interfere with your commitment to God.

The word mammon refers to money, riches, wealth. And because of man’s sinful tendency to love and trust in riches, it was eventually considered as an idol – a substitute for the true God. How dangerous it is to set your heart upon riches, seeing how easy it is for men to make it a god! “The love of money is the root of all evil”. (1Timothy 6:9,10). When money becomes an idol and master, the true God is forsaken and man becomes destitute, without God in this world and without hope in eternity.

“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.” To serve God is to love Him and to hold to Him or to cleave to Him. To serve God is to love Him, not in words only but in deed and in truth. He who serves God truly and acceptably must serve Him wholeheartedly. God will not permit a rival to share the throne of your heart with Him. Those who profess to serve God cleave to Him with a perpetual covenant in all conditions and situations in life. It is to hold to Him and His Commandments, even when those commandments are not pleasing to the flesh. It is to give God the first place in your affection and devotion, preserving and presenting your hearts to Him as sacred ground on which neither mammon nor the world is allowed to intrude or trespass. God must be Master and Lord of all.

In a broad sense, mammon is whatever seeks to compete with God in your life. This could be riches, worldly system and attractions, or whoever wants to displace God in your life, and assume the role of master. Satan, the Prince of this world, is ever seeking to be lord and master of the souls of men. The world is also seeking control of your heart and affection. The two masters, God and mammon, are diametrically opposed to each other. ‘The one commands you to walk by faith, the other to walk by sight; the one wants you to set your affection on things above, the other to set it on things that are on the earth; the one asks you to look at the things unseen and eternal, the other to look at the things seen and temporal; the one expects you to be content with such things as ye have, the other to enlarge your desires as hell; the one impresses you to seek happiness in the Creator, the other to seek happiness in the creature.’ Truly, you cannot serve these two contradictory masters. If you love one, you must hate the other. If you cleave to one, you must despise and leave the other. As you go through this year, you must never forget that you cannot serve God and mammon.