Today’s Theme: An animal for whom I am grateful
“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24, NRSV).
My family recently experienced a significant loss. Belle was my grand dog. She was a beautiful, thirteen-year-old pug who carried the nickname of princess. Belle crossed the rainbow bridge last week at the age of thirteen. She made everyone she met feel special. I am grateful for her presence in my life.
It is said that cats are into “meology” (life is all about me). Dogs, however, are all about theology. Theo is the Greek root word for God.
In their book, Cat & Dog Theology, Bob Sjogren and Gerald Robison contrast the different ways in which cats and dogs respond to their masters. Whereas cats view their master’s role as to serve them, dogs live to serve and please their masters.
When I come home from work, my dogs excitedly bark at the door as so to say, ”Where have you been? I’ve missed you!” My cats, however, annoyingly stand over their food bowl and glare, “You’re late for dinner. Feed me.”
Jesus claimed that no individual can serve two masters. Many believe that Jesus was speaking to his concern of one’s divided loyalties between God and money. The word Jesus uses to describe wealth, however, includes any earthly pleasure that supplants our devotion to God.
“Who is your master?” is the central question posed within the first eighteen verses of Matthew, Chapter six. In this section of his sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses our human tendency for pleasing others rather than God. In the succeeding passage, Jesus speaks to our collective worry as to what people may think of us over and against God’s opinion of us.
Our world today is enslaved to many masters. Lots of folk spend in excess of 500 minutes a day using their smartphones. Social media has prompted an epidemic of anxiety-related mental health disorders. Many worry as to what others are saying about them (or perhaps are ignoring them) online.
For those of you who do not know where your loyalties lie, I suggest you ask yourself the following questions:
What do I worry about most often?
Whose approval do I seek the majority of my day?
On what do I spend most of my time, attention,
and money?
Each of us is susceptible to being controlled by things and in ways we do not realize. We become enslaved to forces we don’t recognize.
The solution, however, can be found in Matthew 6:33. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (NIV). Jesus encourages each of us to seek a different Audience and ask of Him a different set of questions:
What do you think I should say, Father?
How would Jesus respond if he were in my
shoes?
What would bring you the greatest amount of pleasure?
By asking these questions, you will begin shifting your thinking from “meology” to theology. And one day when you cross the rainbow bridge my grand dog, Belle, will greet you with a wag of her tiny tail and ask,” Where have you been? I’ve missed you!”
“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matthew 6:24, NRSV).
My family recently experienced a significant loss. Belle was my grand dog. She was a beautiful, thirteen-year-old pug who carried the nickname of princess. Belle crossed the rainbow bridge last week at the age of thirteen. She made everyone she met feel special. I am grateful for her presence in my life.
It is said that cats are into “meology” (life is all about me). Dogs, however, are all about theology. Theo is the Greek root word for God.
In their book, Cat & Dog Theology, Bob Sjogren and Gerald Robison contrast the different ways in which cats and dogs respond to their masters. Whereas cats view their master’s role as to serve them, dogs live to serve and please their masters.
When I come home from work, my dogs excitedly bark at the door as so to say, ”Where have you been? I’ve missed you!” My cats, however, annoyingly stand over their food bowl and glare, “You’re late for dinner. Feed me.”
Jesus claimed that no individual can serve two masters. Many believe that Jesus was speaking to his concern of one’s divided loyalties between God and money. The word Jesus uses to describe wealth, however, includes any earthly pleasure that supplants our devotion to God.
“Who is your master?” is the central question posed within the first eighteen verses of Matthew, Chapter six. In this section of his sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses our human tendency for pleasing others rather than God. In the succeeding passage, Jesus speaks to our collective worry as to what people may think of us over and against God’s opinion of us.
Our world today is enslaved to many masters. Lots of folk spend in excess of 500 minutes a day using their smartphones. Social media has prompted an epidemic of anxiety-related mental health disorders. Many worry as to what others are saying about them (or perhaps are ignoring them) online.
For those of you who do not know where your loyalties lie, I suggest you ask yourself the following questions:
What do I worry about most often?
Whose approval do I seek the majority of my day?
On what do I spend most of my time, attention,
and money?
Each of us is susceptible to being controlled by things and in ways we do not realize. We become enslaved to forces we don’t recognize.
The solution, however, can be found in Matthew 6:33. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (NIV). Jesus encourages each of us to seek a different Audience and ask of Him a different set of questions:
What do you think I should say, Father?
How would Jesus respond if he were in my
shoes?
What would bring you the greatest amount of pleasure?
By asking these questions, you will begin shifting your thinking from “meology” to theology. And one day when you cross the rainbow bridge my grand dog, Belle, will greet you with a wag of her tiny tail and ask,” Where have you been? I’ve missed you!”