No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.-Matthew 6:24

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.-Deuteronomy 10:12

Many people were traveling with Jesus. He said to them, “If you come to me but will not leave your family, you cannot be my follower. You must love me more than your father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters-even more than your own life!-Matthew 14:25-26

 

And Everything Thereof

I tried to serve two masters;
God and family.
I asked the creator of the universe
To wait patiently for me.
And when I had the time for Him,
Or when I had the need,
I would deign to have Him in my life
While He listened to my pleas.
At which time He went back on His shelf,
Where I expected Him to stay,
Until I once more needed Him
To keep disaster at its bay.

That I dared to call Him master,
With all that word connotes,
Should’ve earned for me a lightning strike;
Or at the very least a smote.
For, we cannot serve two masters,
Nor, have more than one come first.
And our relationship with God
Should not be interspersed.
Our commitment to our Lord
Must be given its full import.
Because our God is peerless,
And He has no like cohort.
What it means to love the Lord
Is more than being grateful for His love,
It is surrendering our whole life to Him,
And everything thereof.
©Linda Troxell 03/21/2017

 

For many of us, the idea of submitting to anything or anyone is a difficult one to accept. Many Americans, especially men, have been raised on the John Wayne, American Cowboy ideal of independence; self-containment and need for no one. Similarly, American women, especially those born in a certain era, were shaped by the feminist movement. I don’t know how many of you are old enough to remember, but prior to the woman’s movement of the 196o’s women had very few rights apart from those given to them by the men in their lives. Ideally, women weren’t supposed to work, but if they did it was only in positions suitable for women, such as a teacher, nurse, or librarian; and these only until they found a husband. Prior to the women’s movement, if a woman went to college it was to find a husband. The popular wisdom of the day said that women went to college not to pursue a BA degree or an MS degree but a Mrs. Degree. The rights women now enjoy, were hard fought for. So, the women who came of age during the women’s movement, tend to be adamant that they will not submit to anyone, especially not to a man. So, you can see that our culture revolves very much around the values of independence and self-determination.

However, as Christians, we all need to submit our whole lives to God and to His determination. God requires that we serve Him as our one and only Master. He insists on being first in all areas of our lives, our finances, our jobs, our politics and our country.  The Bible tells us in Matthew that we must even put God before our family and ourselves: “If you come to me but will not leave your family, you cannot be my follower. You must love me more than your father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters-even more than your own life!-Matthew 14:26

When I became serious about being a Christian, the idea of putting God first was an idea I had never entertained. At that time in my life, there had never been anything that came before my family. In early years it was my family of origin; my mom and my dad were whom I depended on, whom I looked to for my security and safety. Then when I had a child of my own, she came before anything else in life. If she was safe and happy, I was safe and happy. Finally, when I became a grandmother it was my grandchildren. They were what I loved most in life. They were who I looked to for my happiness and my sense of purpose.

For many years this was not a problem. God did not begin to deal with me about this issue for several years after I seriously committed my life to Him. He was aware of how difficult the transition would be. And I am grateful that He did not push me faster than I was equipped to go.  At first, it was simply a thought I had, then it became an awareness. Soon I had to acknowledge that my priorities did not glorify God and were not what he wanted of me. Finally, God led me to Matthew 6:24 where Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” That’s when I had to admit that I had made my daughter and her children masters before God, had made them false idols and gods that I worshipped before my Lord and Savior.   

Letting go of my family as my first priority was a very difficult process. I had been taught to believe that family is to be the number one priority in my life. I’d been raised to believe that being a good mother included making my family more important than anything else, including myself. Being able to keep my family number one in my life, even when it was difficult to do so, had brought me pride and self-respect throughout the years. But now, I had to come to terms with the fact that it had never been the right thing in God’s eyes. So, I made a commitment to begin the process of making God first in my life.

It wasn’t long before I found myself stuck. It seemed as if there was something beyond upbringing and family tradition preventing me from being successful in the process. I spent many, many hours praying and searching my soul to find out what that something was. In the end, I came to really understand that if I wanted God to be my first priority, it would require that I really submit to Him. And not just the priority of my family but my entire life. Do I hear a few sarcastic “Duhs” out there? Of course, this wasn’t a new concept for me. I mean, admonishments to submit to God, obey only Him and love Him with our entire being are all through the Bible in verses such as, Deuteronomy 10:12: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” After all, submitting to God is what being a Christian is about. But, I still found the thought of actually surrendering my will to someone else terrifying.

I’ve always had a need for control; who doesn’t right? And even though I knew, deep in my soul, that I was not really in control of anything, I still needed the illusion of control. So it was, that through my soul searching about surrendering my will to God, I came to realize that my need for control was so much more severe than I had allowed myself to realize.  For example, I discovered that I could not pray, “Thy will, not mine, be done.” Because it made me anxious to give up that control. What if I didn’t like God’s will? What if God’s will was something I could not tolerate? What if God’s will was for me to suffer? On and on I would worry never minding that I didn’t have control in the first place, never mind that God does not need my permission to carry out His will.

This was never a logical thought, it was, pure and simple anxiety, born of the fear of losing control. In addition to my control issues, I am one of those women I spoke of born in the era when the women’s movement came about. I was conditioned, indoctrinated, dare I say brainwashed, to be independent; to submit to nothing and no one. So, when I considered submitting to God, it went against everything that I had fought for, everything I had worked so hard to resist through my whole life. It was clear that I must resolve these issues if I wanted to take the final and most important step in my walk with God.

And through it all I came to understand that giving up control, letting go of old priorities, and putting God first in our lives, like most of our walk with God, is not an event; it’s a process. Just like loving ourselves, forgiving our enemies, trusting God and loving our neighbors are not things that happen suddenly or overnight but, rather, a bit at a time, so it is with putting God first in our lives. And like those things, putting God first is a decision we make new each day. It is something we have to practice daily; something we have to do over and over and over again before it becomes part of who we are. It is a commitment that requires our effort and God’s help.

I have not completed the work by any means. But I am so happy I have begun it. When I look back to where I began in this process, I am shocked at how severe my problem was and just how far I’ve come. In my daily prayers, I ask God for help in keeping Him first, just as I ask Him daily to help me with forgiving others and loving my enemies and trusting Him completely. And He reminds me when he needs to as we walk together toward the goal.

 

Points for Prayer and Pondering

1. What or who are you putting above God in your life? Give an example of a way in which you have allowed this person or thing to be above God. 
2. Are you ready to make God first in your life, do you want to make Him the number one priority? Do you have a plan to do so? Write your plan out as action steps with the date you will begin and the dates you purpose to take each step. 
3. If you do not want to make God first in your life, do you think you can progress in your walk with God without putting Him first? If you answered yes write about how that will happen given God’s command to make Him first. 
4. How do you think your life/relationship with God will change if you work to put God first?