You cannot serve The Lord Jesus Christ and Mammon.  Mammon represents anything a Christian values more than The Lord, and may include money, fame, status, material possessions, etc.

Value system is an individualistic concept and is greatly determined by one’s virtues or vices. People’s internal conception of what is good, useful, beneficial, desirable or important is entirely their prerogative. More often than not however, values are informed by aspirations, need for relevance, desire to make meaning out of life, want of material possessions and concerns about making ends meet (having food, drink, clothing, shelter etc).

For a Christian, it is expected that the Bible should majorly influence choices made (what is right or wrong) as will be ultimately reflected in actions taken. Jesus Christ recognized the importance of value system in informing our thoughts, words and actions. Little wonder then, He categorically stated in Matthew 6:24b; “…you CANNOT serve God and Mammon.”

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon” Matthew 6:24 NKJV

It’s an all or null situation, ….and understandably so. Except of course we are dealing with the ‘christian’  described in James 1:6 as ‘a wave of the sea driven and tossed by every wind” ; a man who is unstable, unsteady and undecided about his beliefs and value system.

“…for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.” James 1:6b NKJV

The double-minded man described in James 1:6b has his answer from the Lord in the next verse of same scripture…he should not expect to receive anything from The Lord!

The Lord Jesus Christ admonishes us to keep worry far from us. Do not worry about food, drink, clothes and any other drivers of our decisions and choices. The Lord takes care of the jobless birds of the air, feeds and nourishes them. He clothes (most beautifully) the lilies and grass of the field.

The way I see it, worry and faith seem to be at extreme ends of a spectrum for a Christian. If you have faith in the ability and willingness of The Lord to meet all your needs, you won’t worry and your value system is unlikely to be twisted from Christ’s expectations.

So have faith in God for your daily needs!

You have a dog, cat, talking pigeon etc for a pet or you’re considering getting one soon?

That’s fine, God considered giving animals to man as companion from the beginning. Yes, I was as surprised as you are right now, as it popped out of my Bible 🙂

Genesis 2:18 reads

“And the Lord God said, ‘It isn’t good for a man to be alone; I will make a Companion for him, a helper suited to his needs’. So the Lord God formed from the soil every kind of animal and bird, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever he called them, that was their name”.

So Adam showed his creativity in churning out beautiful names for all the animals. Doesn’t the Lion really look lionish? 🙂 I bet you responded in the positive.  Just a thought here though, which happened first?….did Adam just throw different names at different animals and they looked the part, or did their looks suggest a name to Adam? 🙂  I want to believe both, but more importantly, the animals answered the name Adam gave them (Selah). That’s what the Bible tells us.

But notice that God was watching out carefully for what Adam would name each of the animals. God wanted to see which of the animals Adam considered a companion or a help meet, which was God’s particular interest at the time.

None qualified!

So God shook His head. ‘Oh no, this didn’t work, but let me try again’. This time, God chose to use a part of the man to make him a companion.

Look at Adam’s reaction;

“This is it! Adam exclaimed. She is part of my own bone and flesh! her name is ‘woman’ because she was taken out of a man”. Genesis 2:23

God’s job was done! Eve was acceptable to Adam as companion 🙂

Isn’t it still awesome how man has remained in the business of identifying his companion himself? God ceded that right over to man (Selah). You gotta find your companion yourself young man. And being the Father that God is, He is always available to guide you. Amen.

My grandma had a cat for many years, she shared almost all her meals and drinks with it, especially fish. One awful day, Bossy, which is what she called her cat, left home and has still not returned. My grandma passed on about 4 years ago at almost 100 years. From my little Maths, Bossy must have disappeared from home in my grandma’s 70’s. Grandma later found a companion in a human male of her age group. That was sweet to watch.

I read of people willing over millions and millions of monies to pets. My take on that? Such people most likely lived a pitiable solitary purposeless life with a myopic view. What happened to all the homeless and hungry people all over the world? Money in the wrong hands!

Do have all the pets you like recognizing that God actually created them to stay around you. But recognize that they never sufficed as companions for Adam and I doubt they’ll do for you.

Get a companion today 🙂