Serving Two Masters - Part 48

We must acknowledge that the Bible frequently uses the term "servants" in describing our relationship to the Lord, and this deserves some consideration.  Matthew 6:24 says, "No man can serve two masters."  Modifying that slightly "No man can be a servant to two masters."  Consider as well that in Bible times, a servant was almost always a slave.  And so we get the following, "No man can be a slave to two masters."

Now God wants us to be slaves from the standpoint of our not needing to understand everything in order to believe.  Why?  Because what a person does must be of faith, for as Romans 14:23 puts it, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin."  This means that God enables us to constantly exercise our faith, since He doesn't tell us about everything ahead of time.  Yet He never allows our faith to be tested beyond that which we can bear.

Now the disciples were coming to a point in their experience when their faith was going to be greatly tested.  I don't think we can remotely appreciate what they were facing:  they had been with Jesus for three and a half years; He was soon going to be hanging from a tree in front of them; and their faith was going to fail them.  We know this because when it happened, they fled and completely left Him.  In fact, all the disciples were soon hiding behind locked doors in the upper room, and would have remained hidden, and remained unbelievers, had not Jesus pursued them following His resurrection, revealed Himself, reminded them of what was going on, and helped them put all the pieces together.

But fear and unbelief wasn't what Jesus preferred for His disciples.  He would have been pleased had they understood and believed from the beginning.  Had He not already spoken of His pending death?  Had He not already told the Jewish people through the prophet Isaiah the manner in which He was going to die?  But the disciples had their own ideas about what was going to happen, and therefore misunderstood statements that should have been completely clear.

Fear and unbelief is not what Jesus wants us to live in either.  Our faith and trust in Him must be beyond anything we have ever had before.  Pray for it and God will supply our need, Pray for love and He will provide that too.  We must be like Him in order to live eternally with Him.  I know that is a hard saying for many people but since Jesus takes care of all our fruits if we abide in Him each and every day, it doesn't become a hard saying any more.  Our part is a complete surrender and His part is to take care of us as long as we stay in the surrendered state.  So simple if we can wrap our minds around it, it takes faith but faith is a gift so even that comes through Him.  So hang on friends, it will be worth it all in the end.  Grandma Joan