Who is Really in Control?
Two Masters
Jesus says we cannot serve two masters. We will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. This verse always feels like a punch in the gut. We live in a world where we are trying to pursue virtue while battling the sinful self. Lent is a gift in which Christ asks us to fast, give alms, and pray. It is an invitation to enter into the spiritual battle and give over to God what is rightfully his—our entire self.
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. Matthew 6:24 RSV
Of course, this is easier said than done. This complete surrender is not only hard, but it can discourage us to the point where we are tempted to give up and give in.
This past week in Evening Prayer, there was a scripture reading from Philippians. It’s the verse in which Paul asks us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12-15). Who wants to be fearful and trembling? But if you read those verses and sit with them, they are actually comforting. If only we will stop belly aching and arguing (not only with ourselves and others), God will put the will and the action into us. If we can surrender, be quiet, stop the obsession with control, and say to Christ, ‘alright, I give up, it’s your will, not mine,’ we will experience an innocence and grace that will give us the peace that passes all understanding.
That same struggle with control is exactly where temptation often gets subtle: it doesn’t always look like open rebellion, but like the “reasonable” choice to keep everything planned and thoroughly organized.
As I was in prayer this morning thinking about this, I was reminded of Joseph Ratzinger’s warning above about how easily we can prefer the “reasonable decision” and a tidy, organized world over letting God interfere with our essential purposes.
The tempter is not so crude as to suggest to us directly that we should worship the devil. He merely suggests that we opt for the reasonable decision, that we choose to give priority to a planned and thoroughly organized world, where God may have his place as a private concern but must not interfere in our essential purposes. - Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph Ratzinger
The Devil and his minions constantly whisper that we need control, that we need everything tidy in our lives, and that we need a perfect plan. So what do we do with Jesus? We make Him one of the things we control, categorize, and dismiss once we think we have it all figured out. The reality is that we don’t. Chaos, sin, and disorder are everywhere, and it can be disheartening. Jesus is asking us to let Him interfere in all of it.
This is surrender. In giving everything to Him, we will find peace.
© 2026, Lawain McNeil, Mission Surrender, LLC.