13 No servant can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.” 14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15 And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. 16 “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.[a] 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void. 18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery. These verses teach us, firstly, the uselessness of attempting to serve God with a divided heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, "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. You cannot serve God and mammon." Luke 16:13-18
The truth here propounded by our Lord appears, at first sight, too
obvious to admit of being disputed. And yet the very attempt which is
here declared to be useless is constantly being made by many in the
matter of their souls.
Thousands on every side are continually trying to
do the thing which Christ pronounces impossible. They are endeavoring
to be friends of the world and friends of God at the same time. Their
consciences are so far enlightened, that they feel they must have some
religion. But their affections are so chained down to earthly things,
that they never come up to the mark of being true Christians. And hence
they live in a state of constant discomfort. They have too much religion
to be happy in the world, and they have too much of the world in their
hearts to be happy in their religion. In short, they waste their time in
laboring to do that which cannot be done. They are striving to "serve
God and mammon." Continue at Reformation Theology
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