Who's your Master?

    I sat here last night and tried to figure out what God was wanting me to say in this new post and no matter what I prayed or asked him to give me, nothing came. So i closed my laptop and went to bed and said my nightly prayers and drifted off to dreamland. This morning I got up and the family and I went to church , then had lunch and just spent the early part of the afternoon just being a family together, which is always a good thing. But all during this time in the back of my mind I was trying to figure out what it was that God wanted me to get out there and yet it was still like there was a wall between me and God. So this afternoon my Mother in law, who I have to say(and not just because she reads this) is the best Mother in law a man could ask for, and I am so thankful to her for raising my wife to be a woman of honor and who loves Christ, came over and we began to talk about things at church today and things within church in General.One of the things we touched on was money and how it's used in the church.And that triggered something, and it was like the wall came down and I began to think about how Money, or any material object for that matter,can come between us and our relationship with God.
    In Mat 6:24 Jesus tells us  "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.". Now the word mammon is another word for Riches. What he is saying to us is that we, as his people, have to make a decision, are we going to serve him or are we going to serve the things, riches, of this world and let our relationship with the one true God just go to waste. When you think about these words, lets replace the word with mammon with , oh I don't know one of millions of words. How many people do you know who serve their lifestyle, a sport, a bottle of alcohol , a drug they shoot up or snort or smoke or swallow. We can let any one of 1000 things get in the way of our relationship. Many of you reading this will say, well I wouldn't do that, but how easy in today's lifestyle would it be to get so wrapped up in work,or a hobby that come this Sunday you think well ya know the weather today is gorgeous and wont be long until it will be cold, so I'm gonna slip on out to the golf course today and I 'll go to church next week.Then next week rolls around and weather is good, or you went out on Saturday and played 18 holes and, well your tired and need to relax before running back to work on Monday, so I'll stay home today but next week I'll be at church. Do you see how easy it  is to get into the pattern. I know , I've done it  and next thing ya know my wife wasn't going and then my daughter wanted to stay home and then guess what , I as the spiritual leader of the house had led not one but 3 of God's children astray. Mine wasn't a golf game or a bottle of whiskey or a drug, it was my own laziness from working 6 days a week.I finally realized if I can give work 6 days a week , then why can't I give My Lord one.And since I decided that, things have changed for me inside and my walk with Christ has taken on a new direction.The riches or "Mammon" of this world are enticing, but do we make them our master, and if so why. In the industry I work in I have seen a lot of people who have made it, not intentionally mind you, its just the nature of the beast due to the long hours ,their master. The Long hours have been known in the past to lead to comfortable lifestyles for many, and the lure of that lifestyle , just like a drug, makes some work even harder to satisfy that need, or that lifestyle. So in turn they become a slave to the job in order to maintain a lifestyle that is going to be gone one day when their life is over here on this earth, and what will they have to show for it. Well for those who are left behind, you might leave a nice home, a nice car, a full bank account, and they might even put on your headstone that you were a hard worker always putting yourself out there to provide  a comfortable life for those you loved. But as for you what do you get, a trip into hell for an eternity of Pain and Suffering all because you wanted more Mammon than you already had.This could happen to any one of us if we take our eyes off the prize, which is eternal life in Heaven.
  Brothers and Sisters i ask you are you serving God, or Mammon? Is the goal of Eternal Life in Heaven in sight, or has the view gotten cloudy and dark? I am not perfect by no means nor do I claim to be but as it says in Psa 55:16 "As for me I will call upon God, and the Lord shall Save me."
   God Bless you this week as you go out into the world and may he keep you strong and hungry for his love.

Bill