Jesus said:"No servant can be the slave of two masters; for either he will hate the first and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and think nothing of the second. You cannot serve God and Money" (Luke, 16:13).
The question that might immediately arise in our minds could be: 'How can then we live in this world?' Let us keep in mind that Jesus does not forbid use of money or material things required for our life in this world What is forbidden is serving money instead of God alone serving Whom is the only way to free ourselves from the tyranny of seeming attractions of life. Our heart, that is the center of our personality, tends to be satisfied only with the total dedication of ourselves to the object of our admiration. A slave is branded with the symbol of authority of the master for no other reason than the requirement of full dedication, and in our case we are branded with the very image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). What is more, the perfect image and likeness of God in Jesus Christ is in us as the hope of a glory to come (Col. 1: 27). This is so from the very beginning of creation since "All that came to be was alive with his life, and that life was the light of men" (John, 1:4). Thus we are doubly branded by God as His own Whom alone should we serve for our real happiness as the slave of God is really a free person.
How is this to be understood? Living in the world we are drawn to many things that seem attractive and to different people for various reasons. We are on the wrong path only when we attach ourselves to things and persons in wrong ways. When we are addicted to them and cannot extricate ourselves from their strangleholds, we are on the wrong path. The remedy for this ill is to surrender ourselves to something stronger and all-consuming so that we are masters of ourselves in the world. This is achieved through our self-surrender to God loving Whom whole-heartedly is our primary duty (Deuteronomy, 6:5; Luke,10:27). and is the panacea for total freedom.
Jesus continues with the reason why we cannot love God and Money at the same time citing from the example of the Pharisees who loved money. "You are the people who impress your fellow-men with your righteousness; but God sees through you; for what sets itself up to be admired by men is detestable in the sight of God" (Luke, 16:15). Righteousness is our right standing before God and that cannot be manufactured by our ingenious ways as it has to come from God alone. Any human attempt to show righteousness without reference to the initiative of God in the matter turns out to be hypocrisy. The reason for this is that the standard set up by God for human righteousness is beyond our scheme of things, which is governed by the pattern of this world.
How should we surrender ourselves to God whole-heartedly in order to be really free and be permanently happy? Jesus himself gives us the solution to our query by continuing to say: "Until John, it was the Law and the prophets: since then there is the good news of the kingdom of God, and everyone forces his way in" (Luke, 16:16). The Law given through Moses and the prophets was meant to be preparatory for the great initiative of God in inaugurating His Kingdom on earth. The price one has to pay in sharing the joys of this good news is to do violence to oneself just as Jesus did and overcame the world (John, 16:33). This violence is against our undue attachments in the world that distort and veil our fundamental relatedness to God.
If anyone thinks that as a consequence the Law and the prophets are irrelevant, Jesus has forewarned: "It is easier for heaven and earth to come to an end than for one dot or stroke of the Law to lose its force" (Luke, 16:17). How should we proceed then? How can we combine the demands of the Law and the prophets with the good news of the Kingdom of God? This is achieved through worshiping God in spirit and in truth (John, 4:23). We shall treat this topic in our next post as it needs to be elaborated a little. It should also help us to see through many of the problems involved in surrendering ourselves fully to God without compromising on the quality of our life in the world.
The question that might immediately arise in our minds could be: 'How can then we live in this world?' Let us keep in mind that Jesus does not forbid use of money or material things required for our life in this world What is forbidden is serving money instead of God alone serving Whom is the only way to free ourselves from the tyranny of seeming attractions of life. Our heart, that is the center of our personality, tends to be satisfied only with the total dedication of ourselves to the object of our admiration. A slave is branded with the symbol of authority of the master for no other reason than the requirement of full dedication, and in our case we are branded with the very image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26). What is more, the perfect image and likeness of God in Jesus Christ is in us as the hope of a glory to come (Col. 1: 27). This is so from the very beginning of creation since "All that came to be was alive with his life, and that life was the light of men" (John, 1:4). Thus we are doubly branded by God as His own Whom alone should we serve for our real happiness as the slave of God is really a free person.
How is this to be understood? Living in the world we are drawn to many things that seem attractive and to different people for various reasons. We are on the wrong path only when we attach ourselves to things and persons in wrong ways. When we are addicted to them and cannot extricate ourselves from their strangleholds, we are on the wrong path. The remedy for this ill is to surrender ourselves to something stronger and all-consuming so that we are masters of ourselves in the world. This is achieved through our self-surrender to God loving Whom whole-heartedly is our primary duty (Deuteronomy, 6:5; Luke,10:27). and is the panacea for total freedom.
Jesus continues with the reason why we cannot love God and Money at the same time citing from the example of the Pharisees who loved money. "You are the people who impress your fellow-men with your righteousness; but God sees through you; for what sets itself up to be admired by men is detestable in the sight of God" (Luke, 16:15). Righteousness is our right standing before God and that cannot be manufactured by our ingenious ways as it has to come from God alone. Any human attempt to show righteousness without reference to the initiative of God in the matter turns out to be hypocrisy. The reason for this is that the standard set up by God for human righteousness is beyond our scheme of things, which is governed by the pattern of this world.
How should we surrender ourselves to God whole-heartedly in order to be really free and be permanently happy? Jesus himself gives us the solution to our query by continuing to say: "Until John, it was the Law and the prophets: since then there is the good news of the kingdom of God, and everyone forces his way in" (Luke, 16:16). The Law given through Moses and the prophets was meant to be preparatory for the great initiative of God in inaugurating His Kingdom on earth. The price one has to pay in sharing the joys of this good news is to do violence to oneself just as Jesus did and overcame the world (John, 16:33). This violence is against our undue attachments in the world that distort and veil our fundamental relatedness to God.
If anyone thinks that as a consequence the Law and the prophets are irrelevant, Jesus has forewarned: "It is easier for heaven and earth to come to an end than for one dot or stroke of the Law to lose its force" (Luke, 16:17). How should we proceed then? How can we combine the demands of the Law and the prophets with the good news of the Kingdom of God? This is achieved through worshiping God in spirit and in truth (John, 4:23). We shall treat this topic in our next post as it needs to be elaborated a little. It should also help us to see through many of the problems involved in surrendering ourselves fully to God without compromising on the quality of our life in the world.
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