24"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Jesus says no one can server two masters. My dictionary defines a master as a man having control over others. Who are your masters? Who has control over you? Whose demands do you try to meet? It seems like I have many masters: God as He defines what is right and what is wrong; my family as I try to meet the needs and desires of my husband and daughter; my extended family as I try to maintain relationships with my parents, siblings, and in-laws; my employer and coworkers as we try to get a project completed successfully for the company; time as I know I have to make choices based on time available; and even myself, as I try to work on my own interests. A volunteer organization or coordinator was my master when I did various kinds of volunteer work. My teachers were my masters as I tried to build my education back when I was in school. There are probably many other masters I serve that I haven't thought of right now and could easily be included in this list.
It seems we have many masters. But Jesus has called us all to serve. In serving others we are answering the demands of many masters. So I don't think Jesus is making the point here that serving many is the problem. Also, the statement of hating the one and loving the other to me implies that you cannot love more than one. But for example, I know I can love my husband and my daughter. In fact it seems that the more you love, the more love you have to share with others. Jesus even said to love your enemies. We can love more than one. So I don't think Jesus is making the point here that loving many is the problem.
There will always be many who make demands of us. We will always serve many. We will always love many. But there will also be times that the demands of those we serve will clash. Do I hate going to work when something important is happening in my family I would like to take part in? Do I despise a family member when trying to meet their needs makes me miss out on a chance to work on my own interests?
Yes, there will always be clashes between these masters. The key is the order in which you prioritize all your masters. In fact, with many of these masters, you may really be serving one master through the service to the other master. If you place God as your ultimate master, and serve God through your service to your other masters, you will still be serving God. Serve God by how you love, respect, and care for your family. At work serve God by demonstrating a Christian attitude for others to see and learn from, provide a service or product that is good in God's eyes, and/or earn a salary that you can use to God's desires. Serve time by making the best possible use of your time in ways God would want. Serve yourself by doing things that can make you closer to God. Serve your teachers by showing them the respect they deserve and by building your education so you can be trained to do whatever work God has in store for you. Serve others in your community so you can be the hands, feet, and voice of God.
All of these masters may be served with God as the ultimate master. Any of these could have just as easily been served with other ultimate masters: riches, fame, selfishness, etc. You can only choose one as the ultimate master. You cannot serve riches as your master when at work and God as your master when at home. There would come times that these two would clash. As Jesus said, if you try to serve more than one of these, you will love one and hate the other, or be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot ultimately serve more than one.
These last three lessons deal with your personal priorities. In fact, Jesus isn't saying setting your priorities will determine your actions, but that your actions demonstrate your priorities. What you treasure demonstrates where your heart is. What you allow into your life, either goodness or badness, affects your whole being and demonstrates where you are at. What you let control your conflicts in life demonstrates where your love and loyalty is. Yes, we all want to be good in God's eyes. We all want to place God as the most important thing in our lives. But we must do more than just say it. We must live it. For our actions demonstrate our true desire.