Luke 16:13

"No servant 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."
Luke 16:13


Isn't this what we try to do so often in our lives? We try to serve two masters... God, and whatever else we're obsessing over. Sometimes it is a person, sometimes it is a job or a degree, sometimes it is something we own or a habit we have. Sometimes it is just a label we've chosen for ourselves... a sense of self that we value as much as or more than we value God. ... And it is so easy to talk ourselves into serving any of them. We tell ourselves that this job/degree/life choice/habit is something that God wants us to have, or something that is important to the rest of our lives, or is a core part of ourselves... we can't give it up without destroying ourselves or tearing ourselves in half... whatever it is. Or we can't live without this person or possession. And, you know, sometimes God *does* want us to keep whatever it is. But unless we are willing to put God first, we'll never know because we're so obsessed with keeping it that we can't relax and get some perspective. We worry so much that God won't approve that we don't even give him the chance... we just talk ourselves into the fact that he's okay with it because he loves us.
I think we forget sometimes that God's unconditional love doesn't include blanket approval of everything that we do or choose. :) Just like our earthly parents, God needs to teach us to make choices between good and bad. Ezra Taft Benson said "When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our priorities." Today, let's stop trying to serve two masters and make a commitment. Let's put God first, and be willing to give up anything that keeps us from him. If we do that, God will make up for whatever we give up many times over. And one of the cool, immediate results is that we'll start living much less conflicted lives. :)