Reflection
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other,
or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
Luke 16:13
As persons, we have an internal unity. Who we are and what we believe infuses what we do. When the pursuit of material things becomes the ultimate value in our lives, it becomes a form of idolatry, taking the place that only God should occupy. We cannot really separate our visible choices or words from what we say our faith beliefs are. To profess to be Christian means our lives reflect the teachings of Jesus. His way was the way of the Beatitudes. We can’t profess to embrace them and yet support priorities that are clearly in opposition. We can’t embrace one issue as a moral imperative and then contradict ourselves another way by our support for the opposite. The Christian life demands integrity. We either act out of our beliefs or we don’t.
Prayer
May I have the courage to act out of my beliefs.
Action
Where do you see contradictions between the profession to be Christian and public action or choices? Is this part of your dilemma? How can you rectify things?
Suggested Reading
Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones; whoever is dishonest in small matters will be dishonest in large ones.
Luke 16:10
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves
.James 1:22
The journey of life necessarily involves a choice between two roads: between honesty and dishonesty, between fidelity and infidelity, between selfishness and altruism, between good and evil. You cannot oscillate between one and the other, because they move on different and conflicting logics.
Pope Francis
Do not let your deeds belie your words, lest when you speak in church someone may say to himself, “Why do you not practice what you preach?
St. Jerome
People of integrity and honesty not only practice what they preach, they are what they preach.
David A. Bednar
You don’t lead people by what you say to them; you lead them by what they see you do. True leaders are self-leaders.
Israelmore Ayivor
If a man cannot serve two masters, neither can Christianity, or several thousand of them as the case may be.
E.A. Bucchianeri
A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.
Thomas Merton
Beliefs are important for they shape who we are, but our identity is revealed not through our beliefs or our talk, but through our actions.
Thomas Ingram
People who come to believe in the gospel and turn their lives over to Christ will often hear others say that they are completely different.
Tim Orr
Our beliefs led us to make certain decisions about what is valuable to us as human beings. As the day goes by, we choose to do whatever we think is valuable.
Jim Rohn