By Carol Harper
There was a time in my life where I could actually say I was homeless. In June of 2008, as our moving truck pulled out the driveway of our beautiful 2400 sq ft. mountain home, we drove from Pioneer, California to Nashville, Tennessee with just enough money to get us settled in for a few months. I can’t explain the feelings I had – saying goodbye to my son before he was deployed to Iraq, leaving my daughter, who would enter US Marine Corps boot camp soon after our departure, leaving so many dear friends behind, and a home where we had raised our children and created so many memories.
And as I…a new empty-nester and casualty of the bad economy…cried for two hours straight, from Pioneer to Reno, adjusting from motel to motel across the American “wilderness”….it hit me that we were officially “homeless”, and that everything we owned was packed up in a mini-van and a moving truck. We had no home or apartment waiting for us, no job or immediate employment prospects. What we did have was a whole lot of faith and hope in the Lord, and that He would watch over us and provide for our journey and our needs. What else could we do, especially at the mercy of the gas pump, filling up the Penske camel at $4-5 per gallon.
Once in Nashville, the Lord provided space to pitch our tent in a small house in Antioch, and after spending a bit of time getting a feel of the economic climate and adjusting to the “Southern” way of life, we relied heavily on the His manna to make it from month to month. It’s has now been nearly two years living like this, and there were times where I feared we would be pitching that tent elsewhere (like under bridge). And yes I admit, like the children of Israel, I did complain, not so much out of regret, but more in fear. However, the Lord has been faithful and given me that “power, love and sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7) He has never failed me, and each time He has come through, I wondered to myself why I ever doubt.
Last Christmas I sang with The Nashville Choir at Metro’s “Project Homeless Connect” – a day where the city serves the homeless with a warm meal, employment assistance, haircuts, medical and dental screenings and more. Afterwards I got into my car, and I just broke down and cried, and saw through my tears, the homeless walking from the event back out onto the cold, windy streets. I watched them carrying the goody bags they had received, walking past people in business attire talking on their cell phones. Then looked up at the high-rise buildings of downtown, looked at myself, warm and dry in my car…and my heart ached as I just could not reconcile in my mind why there are any homeless at all.
"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.
You cannot serve both God and money.”
(Matthew 6:24, NIV)
It was at that moment, driving home from the homeless, that I realized the world has become so fearfully devoted to one master, that many are reluctant to step out in faith to serve the Other. We’ve been deeply programmed to rely upon the master of a system with a proven foundation of sand. And great has been the fall of many homes, lives and livelihoods because of the empty promises of money.
Yes, it is certainly a dangerous tight rope walk for Christians to serve two masters, especially since the Rock of Ages said that it cannot be done. Yet, I see businesses, churches, vocational and marketplace ministries running back and forth, from temple court to temple court, “…but you have to have money to survive…there are expenses and bills to pay - rent, utilities, food, shelter, maintenance costs… what else is going to keep the lights on, the heater/AC on?...I have to be paid, this is what I “do” for a living…what about me, where would I live, what would I do without it?
Ah, the dilemma: money versus manna. It might be difficult to really believe, “Let go and let God” when we’re plugged into thinking about the coffers of Egypt, or the golden calves of commerce. There might be some reluctance in relying solely on the Master of all and a God unseen – when one might be accustomed to chains of slavery, whether economic, spiritual or otherwise.
But the “other Master” has set us free from all that:
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matthew 28: 18-20
The Great Commission of Jesus Christ is to “go and make disciples”. He didn’t say go and make a profit off of making disciples. He said to baptize and teach them, not start ministries that might enslave them (or us) to the wrong master. So which master should we take our direction from? Will God not provide us with what we need, before we even ask it (Matthew 6:8)? His will for us is to serve, not to rule. Freely have we received, freely we need to give. If we are serving and worshipping Him faithfully, will He not take care of the details?
Believe me, I felt a lot of reluctance and fear while driving across eight states to get here, finding my place here in a new city, neighborhood and culture, meeting new people. It has taken some time to learn to let go and rely on the Lord for everything. Everything…every breath, every heart beat, every single minute of every day of life I have left in me. I don’t know what I would do or where I would be without His providence, mercy, forgiveness, peace and love. Those are things that money cannot, has not and never will be able to buy.
When we invest in the Rock Market, it means that we make our homes and livelihoods dependent upon the promissory notes of the Lord God, Jesus Christ. It means we worship a Master whose promises are sure. Most of all, the Rock Market never closes…it’s open day or night, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
"Then I will take you for my people, and I will be your God;
and you shall know that I am the LORD your God,
who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians."
Exodus 6:7
“Serving Two Masters” Copyright © by Carol Harper. For permission to publish, contact carolrharper@gmail.com
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