Today's Scripture Reading (January 20, 2024): Luke 16
Many years ago, I worked at a small
Toyota dealership in a small town. At the time, the dealership had a dual
focus. First, it was a Texaco service station. We sold Texaco gas and oil
products as a Full-Service Gas Station on a main North-South highway. But we
were also a Toyota dealership, selling Toyota vehicles to the rural area around
us, and we had some customers who drove from the cities that existed both to
the north and south of the dealership.
There were many ways in which the
service station and car dealership existed in conflict. I remember a day when a
tourist drove a huge motorhome into the service station to get filled with
fuel. The motorhome was so big that it was hard to maneuver the vehicle into
position to receive the fuel. The driver noted that if we didn't have the
Toyota vehicles on the lot, it would be much easier to get motorhomes like his
in for gas, and we might get to sell more gas to larger vehicles. But the
reality was that we weren't making much on the fuel we were selling, and it would
take more than a hundred such vehicles to make the same profit that we could
make on the sale of one Toyota. (And that is a comment on the pennies we were earning
on the fuel rather than any vast profits made on the cars.)
The conflict between Texaco and
Toyota was most easily seen because both companies wanted their products
displayed in prime positions in the dealership/service station. And so there
was a delicate dance we had to do whenever we knew a representative was coming
out from one of the companies. If Texaco was due for a visit, we ensured that
we were displaying Texaco products in all the key places. If a Toyota representative
was on their way, Toyota products were prominently displayed in the same areas.
Texaco and Toyota shared these prominent places if no one was coming.
Jesus says that it is impossible to
serve two masters. You will love one and hate the other, or you might even despise
both, giving neither master the best of what you have. Of course, Jesus focused
on the two masters that compete in all of our lives: God and money or the
material things of life. And we can't serve both. We can have both, but we can't
serve both. The truth I have learned in this life is that money is a severe
taskmaster. Money and material possessions are intended to be tools for making
our way through this life, but God is the only master, and he is the one we
need to serve.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Luke 17
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