Courtney Gilmore We all must choose whether to serve God or a different master. We’re all a slave to someone or something. We can only serve one because all other masters are in opposition to God. No matter which one we choose, there will always be distractions & others competing for our time & devotion, so we need to always be aware.
Our master can be anything that takes up time or energy. It can be anything that we think is important enough to sacrifice for or devote ourselves to. It can be anything that has an agenda contrary to God’s. Anything that competes for lordship in our lives, by giving us a different command than God, can become our master. Anything that we fear above Him can be our master, if our fear compels us to obey it.
Let’s take money for example. If we are serving money, then most likely, it will be just like when the Israelites were serving Pharaoh only adding to our burdens. We’ll work too much & be too busy to focus on God or our relationships. We will worry about tangible things that are seen instead of the emotional & spiritual things that are actually more valuable & longer lasting. Work & Money do not care about our well-being or our relationships because their primary focus is on material things. So, our service leaves us lacking for ourselves & others. The demands are too high & our tools are too few. We’re constantly busy trying to please, but our service to them will never fully satisfy. We’ll always feel scattered & suppressed when we obey others. We will stop paying attention to God’s Word, obeying His commands, & fellowshipping with Him.
On the other hand, when God is our master, we find rest & relationship. He does care about our well-being & He enables us for His service. Instead of imposing burdens on us, He takes our burdens away & works within us. The emphasis is not on work, but on Him. We focus on delighting in Him, fellowshipping with Him, & learning from Him. The more time we spend with Him, the more we begin to exhibit His characteristics. They give us the tools that we need to serve Him. But when we are lacking, when we need help, when we are struggling to meet the mark, God wants us to ask Him for help. We are not bothering Him. He does not tell us to figure it out & leave Him alone. We are not on our own. Through Him, we have access to all that we need. He is our supply closet.
God is the only deserving Master. He alone deserves our time, service, honor, obedience, & fear. But it will be a constant choice. There will always be others trying to distract & compete, so be diligent.
Excerpt from episode 51 “Who Do You Serve?” on Podcast & YouTube
