Attributed to Jesus is this concept that no person can serve two masters. I think this is a concept that is true on a variety of levels. I have certainly witnessed this problem in business life as well as personal life. When you are serving a master, you tend to be focused on what is wanted by that master. You can tell who you truly serve when you analyze your commitments in the morning on what you want to accomplish and at the end of the day when you review how you did.
If you find yourself changing your plans to serve the requests of a particular person, regardless of your own priorities, then I think you discovered your master. You can carefully evaluate your outcomes at the end of the day, and if you are honest you will be able to clearly see who has mastery over you. Many of us will claim to choose God or some other religious figure as master, but our actions are far from that superfluous claim.
Your master maybe insidious. Call it the devil, or some base carnal instinct but you maybe ruled by an ancient primal force that encourages you to enjoy certain appetites that might be destructive to you. We all would love to sit around all day long and do nothing, but too much of that and it becomes destructive to you. We all love a sugary snack, but done in excess and you have a serious problem. There are worse ones. We all want to escape from our problems, but done with a drug induced state and your dependency grows until your master completely rules you. The list goes on, but the point is clear – if you allow that master to rule you then the slow and steady path to misery is what you are on.
Some self evaluation as to what master you are really serving is warranted. I think the best way to do that is to evaluate the outcomes at the end of each day. You will notice that over time the master will always get the most attention. Two weeks of looking at this and you will be able to tell pretty clearly. A truth you probably already know, but perhaps you need to see it staring you in the face to realize that you spend too much time placating your boss, keeping your spouse happy, pleasing a spoiled brat of a child, allowing unhealthy desires to overcome you, an obsession with material things, an obsession with instant gratification and a list of many others.
Do not get me wrong, a happy spouse is awesome. Great kids who love you is awesome too. A boss that does not want to fire you is always a good thing. However, who or what is ultimately your master? If you were on an errand to accomplish something important and your real master needed you to act on something – would you drop what was important to serve the master? Example – I am on the way to the store to buy a material object that I really want and God (my supposed master) whispers to my soul to give the money that I would have spent on that object to a street urchin. What say you? What master do you serve?
Guy Reams (281)
365 Member
