The Choice To Feel Or Act (Matt. 6:24)
To love or hate are sentiments which well up in our hearts;
We crave, adhere to, give support with tone of our remarks;
When feelings are quite opposite, we dis-esteem, despise;
Two masters give alternatives – a choice before us lies.But hate and love can action take (non-verbal sentiment);
It’s then we persecute the one (or things) which we detest,
Or we promote the welfare of the things which we adore,
(Or people we look up to and whose cause we value more).Christ noted that our choice well shows in feelings or in act;
It did not seem to matter which, for one will be in fact
A positive, one negative – we’re predisposed to choose –
One master, of whatever kind – the other choice will lose.It’s true in art; it’s true at work; and in relationships;
It’s true in thoughts which come before our ears, or pass our lips;
It’s true in what we value as we journey on through life;
A choice cuts through our sentiment or action like a knife.So what is “God”, (assumed to be quite understood today)?
“The highest and the best we know”? “The one to whom we pray”?
“The Father, Son, and Spirit, somehow all connected up”?
“A higher power”? “The one we understand, at least in rough”?And what is “Mammon”? – Money? No – an old Chaldean word
For “confidence” – now that’s a slant on this I’d never heard;
It’s “wealth personified”, it seems, and avarice when viewed
As deity within one’s life, when envy is renewed.A picture slowly forms for me of Jesus’ comment here:
A choice we always make between two options, that is clear;
But He points out selections are expressed two different ways –
In sentiment or actions – “Doesn’t matter which”, He says.“What matters more is which we choose as master of our life –
The one above the mean and mean? The one which fosters strife?
Our actions or our sentiment fall into line”, He says,
“So, make your choice – result’s attached to each – and each one pays”.navigation