Who/What is your master?

I was on the train the other day and I suddenly had a bit of a revelation. I was thinking about control and servitude - and suddenly realised that we, as humans are born to serve one thing or another. I serve God, and Holiness - I try to keep those as my masters as the thing that guides my life, and those are honourable things to serve. There are others though, that I notice a lot of other people serve. The following descriptions are the extremes - but we have to be careful about how far we step towards them.


The first is Money - this is more commonly known as materialism, and it is the desire to gain as many things as possible - earn as much money as possible to buy the most things for yourself - and it does not matter who or what gets in the way - this is perhaps the most obvious one, and something that we possibly all fall foul of - do you have to have that thing, or is it purely for your own edification, your own status in society. Note that this is not about spending money, and is not even about buying little luxuries for yourself - but it is about buying things for the sake of buying them - for the sake of showing off to your friends how much money you have. This brings about greed, and with greed comes poverty on th flip side - people are pushed down into the mud by you own selfishness.

The second is Power - this is possibly another that is fairly obvious - the desire to be head o everybody else, the desire to have control over other people, to be able to enslave them and get them to do whatever it is you want - and you will walk over people to get there. If you gain power by rightful means, however, and because you have done honourable things to deserve your position, oreven through your own heritage, such as with a monarchy, then you can be happy and take the responsibility that the power gives you. Unless you take on that responsibility, and use it wisely, then everyone below you will fall.

The third is Sex - another fairly obvious one, but one we hope everyone esle will ignore - to be driven and have your life ruled by sex is not holy - not in the least bit - since this is a desire to have your own pleasures fulfilled - true love-making is to make the other person happy as well, not just to fulfill your own sexual desires - this even goes for those in a married relationship - your relationship should never be based on sex, but on love. If you have a relationship based on sex, you are not in a relationship - you do not have love - you love only the sex, and not each other.

The fourth is Comfort - this is a little more subtle, but we should not be ruled by comfort - and this is more difficult as well to explain, as it is one that there seemingly is nothing wrong with - but Life was meant to be lived to the full - I see comfort as where you are happy to sitwhere yu are, and do not want to accept any change that is going on around you - you hould not be interfered with, because you are happy right where you are. You should get out, enjoy life, and do things that are slightly outside your comfort zone - this is real living - sitting in a comfort zone just causes life to ebb away quietly - this is a waste of life, which is a very sad thing indeed.

The fifth is Yourself - this is a very subtle one, and is fairly new as well - and possibly the one for which this post mght get some criticism and reaction - but it is where you stand up and declare that "nobody has rights over me". This is "My Body", or "My Life", and only I have rights over what happens to it. This is a very dangerous position to be in, because you are saying that nobody has the right to tell you what to do - if that is so, then society would descend into anarchy, as the government and policing lose power over you. After all, what rigt to the government have to tell you you shouldn't smoke? you know the risks, you can do it if you want, it is your body and nobody else will be affected. what right does anyone have over your unborn child's life? it is your body, you can do with it what you want. hat right does anyone have to tell you you cannot take heroin? it is your body, it is your life. What right does anyone have to tell you not to kill yourself? it is your body, your life, not theirs. The inconvenient truth is that your life does not belong to you - it was given to you - whether you believe it is by God or by Nature, you have assumed posession over something that you did not acquire by your own means. and secondly, even if you believe that posession has been bestowed upon you, your life andyour body are not solely owned by you - bcause everyone around you is afected in your decisions, and therefore it is not solely your right. you should not be self-serving, and try to claim for yourself what does not solely belong to you, but instead focus on those around you, and be a good part of their lives instead. The former brings us back down to the animals, because they look out only for themselves, or their immediate family/group. Do not get me wrong - people do have rights still, such as the right to have a vote, the right to speak up and have a voice for justice - but seek rights and righteousness for the benefit of others and for equality, not for your own selfishness.

I mentioned before that this is a fairly new one - and I also mentioned that this brings is back to the animals - perhaps the inclusion of an evolutionary hypothesis being taught as fact in our schools, teaches us that we are just simply animals - so we then start mimicking their behaviour - suppose we are, then does that not still say that we should try and rise above the animals, and keep on going how humanity has been? But knowing that a loving God created me above the animals already, in his image, teaches me to seek out his holines, and allow him to be my master.

So what is your master then? what controls and guides your life? I know I am not perfect - I am also tempted by some of the above, and sometimes they rule my life too - but if you serve others, serve God, or serve holiness, and let those be the guidelines to how you live your life, then you will reap the rewards backin their multitudes - as everyone around you will repay the same.