“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24, NLT).
Nathan was one of a group of boys gathered in the center of a broad flat field. The boys chose sides and divided into two teams, but Nathan stood in the middle, firming declaring, “I want to be the quarterback.”
“Come on, Nathan,” his friend Joey called. “You can be the Skins’ quarterback.”
“No, Nathan; come play for the Shirts!” a boy called from the other team.
“I don’t want to choose!” yelled Nathan. “I want to quarterback BOTH teams!” He stubbornly hugged the football to his chest.
“It doesn’t work that way and you know it!” shouted Joey. “You gotta choose, Nathan! Which team is it gonna be?”
“I don’t want to choose!” Nathan obstinately repeated. “I just want to WIN!”
Nathan may have been a fine quarterback, but what good’s a quarterback who doesn’t want to be loyal to one team? Nathan simply wanted to win and he didn’t care which team won, as long as he was on it.
Seems there are a lot of people in this world that are like Nathan. They “hedge their bets,” keeping a door open here and a window open there. “No need to put all my eggs in one basket,” they might say.
But the Truth is, that’s exactly what God requires us to do. We have to CHOOSE. And when we choose to serve Jesus Christ, we “seek [Him] first” (Matthew 6:33). We trust Him to provide the money, the means, whatever is necessary to do whatever He’s called us to do. And we trust Him to be a loving Father who will also fulfill some of our wants.
When “an expert in the law” (Matthew 22:35) asked the Lord, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36), Jesus immediately told him: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38) – He was quoting Deuteronomy 6:5.
There’s no way to partially love God. There’s no way to be somewhat in His Kingdom. You’re either on His team or you’re on the losing team. You can’t have it both ways. Choose Jesus. Choose life everlasting.
“The greater the loyalty of a group toward the group, the greater is the motivation among the members to achieve the goals of the group, and the greater the probability that the group will achieve its goals.” (Rensis Likert)
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture is from the New International Version (NIV).
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