Why is My Spiritual Life such a Struggle? -- Part Two
So what if you already have come to Jesus, and your spiritual life is still a wearisome burden to you? So far from being "easy and light," as Jesus said it would be, the yoke of being a "good Christian" is a colossal burden, perhaps a source of guilt and despair.
What's wrong with this picture?
One answer again comes from Jesus, and again is found in Matthew.
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money," (Matthew 6:24).
This is such a simple concept. But we find many ways to get around it, and thus our spiritual lives become conflicted. Instead of being a source of energy and joy, our life with God becomes an energy-draining chore.
You can't serve two masters. If you try, you will be conflicted, torn. It's like having two yokes on you, taking you in two different directions. Imagine you are an ox, and farmer John has his yoke on your shoulders, and farmer Bubba has his there, too. Poor ox. It is physically impossible for the ox to go in two directions simultaneously.
The problem: it is much, much easier to make the fact of the two yokes "magically disappear" when they are not physical. That's one of the unfortunate beauties of language. That's where self-serving excuses come in, rationalizations, and self-justification. As Christians, we convince ourselves that we are serving one Master, God, when in fact we are serving two or three masters.
Although there are many potential and actual masters, Money is the second master mentioned in this particular context. "You cannot serve both God and Money."
If you have ever said, "I don't want to be rich, I just want a comfortable life and a secure retirement," you need to be careful. This is materialistic thinking. It is making a distinction where none, IMHO, exists. It is a purely verbal distinction. If you are serious about your walk with God, don't con yourself into thinking "There is no conflict."
When Jesus says that we'll hate one master and love the other, or we'll be devoted to one master and despise the other, I think what he's describing is a love-hate relationship. This would go a long way in describing what a lot of us go through at times.
There are many other masters competing for our loyalty and allegiance. Life can be like a buffet, with many different dishes to choose from. And if we're dining out, a buffet is a good place to eat. But when it comes to a full and meaningful life, life is not a buffet.
"No one can serve two masters."
What's wrong with this picture?
One answer again comes from Jesus, and again is found in Matthew.
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money," (Matthew 6:24).
This is such a simple concept. But we find many ways to get around it, and thus our spiritual lives become conflicted. Instead of being a source of energy and joy, our life with God becomes an energy-draining chore.
You can't serve two masters. If you try, you will be conflicted, torn. It's like having two yokes on you, taking you in two different directions. Imagine you are an ox, and farmer John has his yoke on your shoulders, and farmer Bubba has his there, too. Poor ox. It is physically impossible for the ox to go in two directions simultaneously.
The problem: it is much, much easier to make the fact of the two yokes "magically disappear" when they are not physical. That's one of the unfortunate beauties of language. That's where self-serving excuses come in, rationalizations, and self-justification. As Christians, we convince ourselves that we are serving one Master, God, when in fact we are serving two or three masters.
Although there are many potential and actual masters, Money is the second master mentioned in this particular context. "You cannot serve both God and Money."
If you have ever said, "I don't want to be rich, I just want a comfortable life and a secure retirement," you need to be careful. This is materialistic thinking. It is making a distinction where none, IMHO, exists. It is a purely verbal distinction. If you are serious about your walk with God, don't con yourself into thinking "There is no conflict."
When Jesus says that we'll hate one master and love the other, or we'll be devoted to one master and despise the other, I think what he's describing is a love-hate relationship. This would go a long way in describing what a lot of us go through at times.
There are many other masters competing for our loyalty and allegiance. Life can be like a buffet, with many different dishes to choose from. And if we're dining out, a buffet is a good place to eat. But when it comes to a full and meaningful life, life is not a buffet.
"No one can serve two masters."
posted by Ron Goetz | 7:00 PM
2 Comments:
Dear Ron,
You have written solid stuff. The wonderful, gnarly truth of our life in Christ is that it's a paradox: both/and rather than either/or. So I'm just providing the 'and.'
The reason our spiritual life is such is a struggle is because...it's a struggle. First of all, it's a struggle 'not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness...' (Ephesians 6:12). I find it sobering that there is an Enemy who constantly works for my destruction. Without the Lord, we would be completely lost.
Second, it's a struggle against ourselves. I'm convinced that when Paul says, 'I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand' (Romans 7:21), he's talking about the redeemed--not just the unredeemed--life. The author of Hebrews exhorts us to 'lay aside every weight, and the sin that clings so closely' (12:1). I envision sin as limpets stuck to a rock; that's how closely sin clings. Putting to death our old selves takes time, effort, faith, and other Christians.
Third, those other Christians. 'Love each other as I have loved you' (John 13:33) commits us to the highest standards of human behavior. Any way you cut it, that's a struggle.
Again, you have written the truth. So many of our problems living in Christ stem from our desire to serve ourselves first, then Christ. And I would far rather struggle under the 'easy and light' yoke of Christ than any other burden.
In Christ,
Andy
The Christian life is a struggle so long as we serve two masters, it is a struggle so long as we have two yokes about our necks.
Yes, we struggle against principalities and powers and the world rulers of this present darkness. They would be our masters, they would place their yokes about our necks. The struggle totally involves our obedience to Christ, accepting his yoke alone, and rejecting any other yoke.
Our struggles against them are so intense because their enticements to serve them appeal to our instincts for power, territory, status, pleasure, authority, safety, acceptance, security, etc.
We do indeed fight an enemy which would destroy us, but that enemy takes concrete form. The enemy is never in the abstract. Whatever form it takes (and the religious form is virtual universal among Jesus' erstwhile followers), we must cast off that yoke of competition. If we do not, we are accommodating ourselves to a second master, and the struggle of a guilty conscience ensues.
Yes, evil lies close at hand when we would do good. We have an intrinsic desire for what the principalities and powers offer us.
And we are commanded to lay aside the sin which clings to us. They are like the roots of enchanted trees or vines. And we have the power to remove them from our legs and feet to move freely.
We are not inert rocks, helpless to free ourselves from the diversions and deceptions of sin. Our metaphors can work for us or work against us.
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