“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.” (Matthew 6:24)
This passage from our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount delivers a sharp and searching truth: every man has a master, and only one may sit on the throne of the heart. He does not say “you should not” or “ought not,” but “you cannot” serve both God and mammon.
The word “mammon” refers not only to wealth, but to the entire system of worldly gain, pride, comfort, and self-serving ambition. Mammon is anything that rivals God’s supremacy in desire or loyalty. The world packages these as harmless successes or necessary security, but Christ unmasks it. He exposes the false promise of mammon and places it in direct opposition to the service of God.
The examples of the apostles teach us what singular devotion looks like. When Christ called Peter, James, and John, “at once they left their nets.” Their action reveals their allegiance. They counted the cost and deemed Christ worth more than livelihood, reputation, or comfort and therefore surrendered their will to a superior Master.
God commands this same loyalty from every soul.[1] “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” In other words, a heart divided between God and the world is not a heart ruled by God at all. “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). So the soul that tries to hold onto both Christ and mammon—be it wealth, pride, lust, or even self—soon finds itself without either.
But Christ’s warning is not bare. It comes with a promise. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Earthly concerns are not to be our pursuit. God knows our needs, and He will provide for His own.
As Joshua once pressed upon Israel: “Choose you this day whom ye will serve,” that same choice confronts every soul. Not tomorrow, but today. Not later, but now. Choose the Lord, and serve Him wholly. For the soul that chases mammon reaps dust … but the soul that clings to God receives all.
Contemplations:
- Who has my heart? O Lord, this practice of considering our ways is a hard thing, so help me consider well! Help me consider what I seek most, that my seeking is of You and Your Son, Jesus Christ (Ps. 119:59).
- Seek first Your kingdom. Lord, help me not give into serving riches and the attractions of the world that come at me continually. Rather, help me seek first Your kingdom, Your righteousness, knowing that You promised when I do, “all these things shall be added” to sustain and care for me. For if I diligently seek first Your kingdom, You will provide!
- Using the means of grace. Help me, Lord to be careful to use all the means of grace, neglecting none of them, so that I may be able to serve You with a whole heart.
- Guard my heart. Sin is ever around us and also still remains in us, though we are redeemed. Lord, guard me against worldly cares that they may not steal away my heart from You.
Prayer:
Gracious God, I come before You confessing that my heart is often divided. I have served other masters. I have loved the world more than You. I have sought comfort, recognition, and self above Your kingdom. Forgive me, Lord, for the sin of spiritual adultery. Cleanse me from the stains of compromise, and renew a right spirit within me.
I confess that I have not always sought first Your righteousness. I have chased things You never promised and neglected the treasure You freely offered. I have bowed to mammon, hoping it would provide what only You can give. And still You call me back with mercy. Still You offer to be my God.
So I come. I choose You. Help me, Lord, to cast down every rival. Subdue every false affection. Let no possession, no dream, no earthly comfort rise higher in my esteem than Christ. May the grip of mammon be broken and Your Word rule my heart.
Make me single-minded in devotion, unwavering in pursuit, and content in Your provision. Let me not look back to Egypt, nor long for what this world offers, but follow You gladly into the wilderness of obedience for it is there that You feed Your people with manna from heaven.
In Jesus’ name I pray.
Further Scripture References:
Luke 16:13; 1 Kings 18:21; James 4:4; 2 Kings 17:41
[1] “We should supplicate in all humility for protection and countenance; far more for lawful liberty to fear the bond of the oath of the dreadful and most high Lord; avouching to his Majesty, that the Lord, His holy name being interposed, will own that Covenant, and bless his Majesty with a happy and successful reign, in the owning thereof, and kissing of the Son of God. And when the Lord shall be pleased to grant that to us which concerneth religion, the beauty of His house, the propagating of the Gospel, the government of the Lord’s kingdom, without Popery, Prelacy, unwritten traditions and ceremonies, let his Majesty try our loyalty with what commands he will be pleased to lay on us, and see if we be found rebellious.” Samuel Rutherford and Andrew A. Bonar, Letters of Samuel Rutherford: With a Sketch of His Life and Biographical Notices of His Correspondents (Edinburgh; London: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1891), 694–695.
