“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
Most of us are well familiar with this verse; how often have the lessons been which we’ve heard (and rightly so), telling us that we can’t be absorbed with earthly gain and earthly pursuits, and be a servant of God. And true it is. As Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," Matthew 6:21.
The word mammon is a transliteration of a Syrian word, which means riches. And it is evident enough, that if our heart is on the riches of the earth, if we are devoted to a pursuit of wealth, then our heart is not on God.
But Jesus here doesn’t extend it just to a pursuit of wealth; he applies it to even being worried about our needs, food and clothing.
He follows the verse above with a ‘therefore’, therefore what follows is because of the condition that precedes it, that we cannot serve two masters:
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?,” Matthew 6:25-30
He shows us from earthly examples that we don’t need to worry about our life, the sustaining of it, by showing the care the Father gives to things of lesser value than us, that they are fed and clothed. He continues,
“Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble,” Matthew 6:31-34.
If we are the servant of God, our needs, which He knows we have, will be met. There is a verse which is applicable just here, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven," Matthew 18:3-4. Remember when you were a child, how you never thought about where your next meal was coming from? You trusted in your parents to provide for you, without realizing it. God wants us to be as little children with Him, trusting in Him and His promises. And here He gives us a promise, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." We can concentrate on the heavenly, without giving undo concern to the earthly.
We still need to work, however, for, "If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat," 2 Thessalonians 3:10-11. But we don't need to be worried about our survival, because He cares about us.
If we are worried about earthly things, it hinders us from serving God. But we don’t need to worry, for He will see to it that our needs are met.