Saturday, November 29, 2008

Trying to please everyone

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 (Matthew 6:24).

I’m sure that you’ve felt the stress. Your boss wants you to stay late to meet an important deadline, while your son is scheduled to play at school the same evening. The man of your dreams wants a small private wedding while your mother is already planning something large and elaborate. Ever since they got divorced, your parents have tugged at you from opposite directions, trying to get you to take sides in their conflicts.

What makes these situations so stressful is that you don’t want to let anybody down. But in conflicts like these, there is no middle ground; no matter what you do, someone is going to end up feeling betrayed. All you can really do is stall for time—but every day that goes by only makes the situation worse. Trying to sit on the fence can tear you apart.

A lot of Christians feel this kind of stress. They have pledged loyalty to God’s Son, yet they still want to be on good terms with the devil. They like the idea of being special in God’s sight; they want to go to heaven when they die. But they don’t want to turn away from pleasures that Satan promotes—sex outside of marriage, participating in gossip, spending money foolishly. And so they try to have it both ways; some pick and choose which parts of the Bible they feel comfortable believing, while others just stay away from church and its uncomfortable message that sinful ways must be left behind.

But you cannot serve two masters. Regardless of your efforts, one will trump the other for control of your heart. Either you belong to Christ, or Satan pulls your strings. Trying to find some middle ground is a fool’s quest, doomed to failure. Trying to please God while indulging Satan will only fill your life with horrible stress and put your soul at considerable risk.

Make no mistake—every Christian does evil things, much to Satan’s delight. But the Christian finds no lasting joy in sin, only guilt for having betrayed the Savior. Jesus is quick to forgive those who love Him. But He does expect us to see sinful behavior for what it is—ugly and degrading and harmful. Love of sin is incompatible with love for Christ.

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