One boss

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For the past several weeks the gospels have focused on the need for us to make a choice. We so much want to be fully a Christian and (to use Paul's phrase) fully of this world. We so want to NOT have to make choices between God and our various desires.

Last Sunday we heard Jesus say that we can only serve one master, or one boss. And most of us react to that by making excuses. "Yeah, BUT (I read somewhere that by definition the words following "BUT" are always blasphemy!) "Yeah BUT I have to do what my boss tells me so he/she is the boss."

Jesus is speaking about ultimate decisions. As my mother told me frequently, "if he/she told you to jump off the bridge would you do it?" True, in business matters the boss is the boss, but those are not ultimate decisions. I believe Jesus' point is that at some time the earthly bosses and God will come in conflict --- we need to be clear about that and clear about who we would choose.

If the boss tells you to "cook the books" --- probably not directly but makes obvious suggestions along those lines --- what would you do? Would you take a chance on losing your job? If that sexy person invites you to a quiet dinner --- what would you do? Would you give up that exciting (& scary) chance?

A decision making tool I find helpful is to imagine myself explaining the options to Jesus. Just sitting and talking and telling Jesus what choices were presented to me. I find the decision becomes clear most of the time. In fact, most of the time I wonder why I ever considered the other option at all!