84. Non 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- Matthew 6:24

This is an important message to remember as it counters what is told of you in society.

We are often told:

Do whatever you want, consume as much as you can, discipline is bad.

But when you look at anyone at a successful level, they've made some sacrifices.

“If pain comes first, pleasure follows. If pleasure comes first, pain follows.” - Naval Ravikant

You must get in this position of clarity.

All humans must decide who will be their master.

And this isn’t limited just to faith- it's true of every aspect of life.

Yet, you want to believe you are the chosen one who can do everything- sorry to burst your bubble, but you aren’t.

“Indecision is the thief of opportunity” - Marcus Tullius Cicero

The lustful cannot truly be loving.

The gluttonous cannot truly be healthy.

The greedy cannot truly be faithful.

The heart of those serving two masters lays in satisfaction with none.

“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” - Matthew 13:23

As the verse in Matthew alludes to, there is a great harvest to be had upon the good soil.

You can’t be the person who wants to be fit and healthy, yet, eats sweets all the time.

Social media, news, and pop culture promote outliers and irrational thoughts so you find yourself fixating on the 1 in a million rather than accepting the reality that, like a muscle, the focus needs to be trained and you, therefore, can’t focus on everything starting out.

You need to make it easier for yourself and have just one focus- this in turn allows for consistency to play out and with consistency comes success.

“Ninety percent of success can be boiled down to consistently doing the obvious thing for an uncommonly long period of time without convincing yourself that you’re smarter than you are”- Shane Parrish

The fallacy is that this will ‘close doors’.

The opposite is true.

In focussing down, you are not rushing about doing lots of different things but rather aligning yourself with what you are called to do.

Instead of watering down, you are digging deep.

In turn, this allows distractions to take less of a grip and in turn leave time for Sabbath, rest, and recuperation.

You can clearly take a holistic view of your individual focus and see if you need to pivot away from that, adapt, or change.

Serve one master and help more in your clarity, serve many and help no one in your confusion.