No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve YAH and mammon. LUQAS (LUKE) 16:13 את CEPHER
Most of this verse is pretty straight forward and easy to understand. But what about the last part… you cannot serve YAHUAH and mammon.
What is the mammon thing? Many translations will end this verse “you cannot serve both YAHUAH and money” but that falls short of the real meaning. Mammon is much more than money.
Mammon is defined as materialism, and worldly gain. It is material wealth regarded as having an evil influence. More importantly it is personified as a false alahiym in the New Testament.
So to rephrase the verse, it could say “you cannot serve both ALAHIYM and the false alahiym of money, materialism and worldly gain.”
How do we know if we are serving this false alahiym?
In the book Wealth, Riches & Money the author says there are 10 symptoms of mammon’s influence in our lives. See if any of this ring true in your life:
1. Worry and anxiety over money
2. Money Mismanagement
3. Consistent financial lack “I don‘t ever have
enough”
4. I can’t afford it mentality
5. Impulse buying
6. Stinginess
7. Greed. An inordinate desire to acquire or posses
8. Discontentment
9. Bondage or Debt
10. Exaggerated emphasis on money- including an overestimate of it’s true power...
Most of us would have succumbed to at least one of these ten at some stage in our lives. The question is… how much do we succumb to these on a regular basis.
Are we serving ALAHIYM or mammon? I think if we’re honest, often we are serving mammon
I call the shopping malls “the house of mammon”. Do you find yourself going to the shopping centre just to hang out or to get some “retail therapy?” - maybe you need to reconsider this habit. If the shopping centre is the “house of mammon” in your life then staying away from the temptations as much as you can might be your best action.
If you have found that in your life you have been serving mammon rather than YAHUAH then I suggest that you repent, seek forgiveness and put YAHUAH back into the right place in your life.
Reference Credit: Darren Laudenback