Meditation Thought: “No one can serve two masters, for he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon.” (Matthew 6:24)
(Mammon is a personification of riches as an evil spirit or deity.)
You cannot serve two masters. You can, however, serve one master and do good to another master in the process of serving the one, provided this is according to the will of the one served.
Therein lies the crux: To serve God will not preclude doing good in many areas – even if this good actually constitutes a temporary serving of another master. But to serve Mammon is another matter. For God is generous, but Mammon is a tyrant, and Mammon desires more and more serving to himself for his own selfish gain. He will not be so generous as to allow you to serve God: He desires to enslave you to himself. God desires you to serve – and to serve both willingly and devotedly. But He will give you assignments which place you in the position of doing good in many places, thus bringing service to many masters. This is a far cry, however, to doing good to only one master: Mammon.
By doing service for many masters, according to the instructions by God, this is serving God as one master. When we run ‘hither and yon’ serving masters on our own decision, then we are attempting to serve more than one master; and not only are we ineffective in serving them, we give disservice to both God and ourselves.
Meditations of Marie's Heart 