Avoid Earthly Masters

When we leave our house, we enter a world that has many masters. We know them as work, pleasure, family, friends, school, greed, etc. These are the daily networks in which we find ourselves. No matter how old we are, at least one of these masters lord over our daily lives. There is only one problem. These masters, though we bow to them every day, are only shadows of what truly enslaves us.

The Scriptures are filled with examples of what happens when we depart from God, in exchange for one of these other masters. Whether it be Noah who would only survive if he trusted God’s commands for his family, or the inhabitants of Samaria “who say in pride and in arrogance of heart, ‘The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones.’” God has only one agenda….to save us from ourselves. Take a moment and read today’s passage from Isaiah below.

We often say God saves us from death. He saves us from hell. He saves us from sin. In reality, since He first desired that we live in communion with Him, He saves us from ourselves. It is our choice to allow the ‘other masters’ to lord over our day instead of God. Yes, we suffer when we turn away from God, but we will also suffer when we remain loyal to Him. This was the case with many saints, such as Saint Basil of Ancyra whom the Church commemorates today. It is about suffering. It is about living.

When we choose to live according to God’s desire for us, then even though we suffer, we are comforted knowing that God’s hand is “stretched out still.” He never will abandon us when we remain loyal to Him. It is when we think we know better that He allows us to refuse His comfort. When we follow Him as our Master we are invited into an intimate relationship with Him. The relationship we share with the ‘other masters’ only enslaves us. The relationship with God comforts us.

The Great Fast can feel like suffering, but if we open our eyes to the suffering of those around us, the poor and rejected members of our society, a little hunger and inconvenience isn’t much price to pay for God’s comfort. I watched the ‘Man of God’ movie yesterday was moved by the depiction of Saint Nektarios’ love and faith. He truly had only One Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. I am inspired today to work even harder against the master of the world. May the Saints who suffered for Christ pray for us.

Thus says the LORD: “And all the people will know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart: ‘The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.'” So the LORD raises adversaries against them, and stirs up their enemies. The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still. The people did not turn to him who smote them, nor seek the LORD of hosts. So the LORD cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day – the elder and honored man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail; for those who lead this people lead them astray, and those who are led by them are swallowed up. Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows; for every one is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still. For wickedness burns like a fire, it consumes briers and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke. Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is burned, and the people are like fuel for the fire; no man spares his brother. They snatch on the right, but are still hungry, and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied; each devours his neighbor’s flesh, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Ephraim, Manasseh, and together they are against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still. Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! What will you do on the day of punishment, in the storm which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth? Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still. – Isaiah 9.9-10.4