Which God Do You Serve?
For No Man Can Serve Two Masters...
History gives us rare examples in figures like Nelson Mandela and Ignaz Semmelweis—people who chose to serve a higher purpose over self-interest. Does this approach work when in the pursuit of wealth? Everyone has a God that they worship behind the God they think they worship. So, which God do you serve?
1 | No one can serve two Gods
“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. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Matthew 6:24 [NIV]
Every person has a God that they serve; for they have an underlying value system which guides their judgements and decisions. The two Gods can be bisected by the lines of “I serve myself first,” or “I serve others first,” for it is impossible to do both simultaneously.
Consider Nelson Mandela, who remained imprisoned despite the personal attempts to persuade him with wealth and freedom in exchange for betraying his cause. His integrity shone when he declared:
“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
“I Am Prepared to Die” Speech, Nelson Mandela (1964)
He was willing to sacrifice himself because he could not bear to live in an unjust society. Here, we witness a man of integrity who rejected personal salvation to fight for the liberation of others.
Similarly, Dr Ignaz Semmelweis could have retracted his research conclusions to appease the doctors whose egos who were offended by his findings. But again, he chose to sacrifice his reputation and ultimately his life to champion a truth that would save countless lives, including our own.
To serve "God," therefore, is to prioritize others; to serve "money" is to prioritize oneself. While we all begin life serving ourselves, maturity calls us to transition toward serving others—a transition many never complete, making figures like Mandela and Semmelweis rare finds.
This dichotomy can be observed in the difference between childhood and adulthood. As children, we are naturally self-centered. We cry for nourishment, resist sharing and are entirely inward directed as we focus on our own survival. However, we learn that to receive love, care, and joy, we must give to others.
The essence of adulthood lies in this shift from taking to giving. The adult takes a backseat on their personal goals as their life becomes embossed in the nurture and development of their child. Their choices stem from responsibility toward someone else. Yet some adults never make this transition. Some will choose to sacrifice their neighbour to serve themselves, whilst very few will choose to sacrifice themselves to serve their neighbour... This fundamental choice is illustrated through the contrasting examples of Jesus and Abraham.
[Side note and reference to Adam and Eve: When man is naked, he serves himself. When man is clothed, he serves others.]
2 | Jesus and Abraham did not serve the same God
Abraham and Jesus embodied different value systems, evidenced by their vastly different stories. It is a mistake to conflate the two and say that Jesus came from the line of Abraham.
Abraham served himself first and foremost, sacrificing his family and anyone else to achieve his personal goals. Jesus, conversely, sacrificed himself to serve his family and others, subordinating personal ambitions. This demonstrates that one's true God lies not in a proclaimed deity but in action—whether one uses others for personal gain or serves others with faith that good will result.
Abraham's story ends with him becoming the wealthiest man in his land, while Jesus died in poverty. The suggests serving “mammon” is the path to survival - that Nelson Mandela should have forgone his values for early release and wealth, or that business success requires bad faith acting and dirty tricks. Yet, history proves that the opposite is true as proposed by the following verse:
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
Mark 8:35
This verse isn't about defending religious dogma—a prideful approach that breeds ignorance. Rather it means:
“Whoever seeks to save their life by sacrificing others will ultimately lose it, but whoever sacrifices themselves to enrich others' lives will truly save their own."
Mandela did the right thing and was eventually rewarded. The business person who undermines others ultimately loses everything. What does this mean about the story of Abraham and Jesus? It means that the exact opposite of their stories would have occurred. Abraham would have died a poor man, unloved, and isolated – receiving the punishment of Cain for sacrificing his brother to save himself.
3 | Don’t Aim At Success, Aim At Service
To serve God, is to serve others. To serve money, is to serve thyself. Does that mean we are to ignore wealth creation and remain poor? No. It means that to obtain wealth with integrity, one ought to provide value to others and be glad to receive reward as a token of doing so, as supposed to killing thy neighbour to steal his wealth.
“Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss; for success, like happiness, cannot be pursued. It must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as a biproduct of one’s surrender to a person other than one’s self.”
Man’s Search For Meaning, Viktor Frankl (1959)
Frankl discovered what Jesus embodied: true success comes not from direct pursuit but as a byproduct of serving something greater than oneself. The wealth, recognition, and legacy we desire emerge not when we grasp for them, but naturally when we focus instead on what we can give to others.
Behind every person, every institution, every business, every church, every sect and religion is this question – which God do you serve?