No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
LUKE 16:13 NIV

Am still thinking about The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and found myself focusing on the friendship between the Bogart and Holt characters depicted. Early in the film, they are working hard and do not like the jobs they have but find camaraderie in this. It becomes the basis of their friendship. They have a common goal: to work less, to earn more. They begin to trust each other over time. The idea of going to Mexico in search of gold is initially seen as a partnership. They are joined by a third man (played by Walter Huston) and set off to make their fortune. It comes pretty quickly to them but just as quickly they distrust one another in an attempt to hold onto their portion of the gold. The friendship between the Bogart and Holt characters fades quickly and the film ends with the murder of Bogart.

In remembering the film I was struck by the overwhelming paranoia brought on by the drive to keep their share of the gold at all costs. This fear/ this paranoia destroyed their friendship, one that could very well have been a sustaining one for both of these men.

Ever push another man away to protect yourself financially/emotionally/to protect your status? Ever find yourself distrusting another man to the point of distancing yourself from him? Have you also ever found that your "instinct" about another man was wrong? If so, did you swallow your pride and confess this to another man?

I was wrong about you. I have been harboring feelings of resentment. I was wrong.

What is the worst thing that could happen?

K

No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
LUKE 16:13 NIV

Ever see the old black and white classic The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) starring Humphrey Bogart? John Huston, who went on to make The African Queen, The Man Who Would Be King and Prizzi's Honor, among others, directed. If you have not seen this picture it is worth the time. It is a classic portrait of the destructive power of greed.

The Netflix synopsis summarizes the film in the following way:
Three poverty-stricken dreamers (Walter Huston, Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt)head to the mountains south of the border in search of gold. Their fortune and friendship grow at first, but soon, paranoia and greed begin to take over, endangering all that they've gained.

This is an accurate description. The Bogart and Holt characters develop a friendship as they labor in dead end jobs. They are depicted as constantly envying those who have "made it". They meet up with the Walter Huston character, a man who is more world-wise than he initially seems and together they decide to pan for gold in Mexico. They do strike it rich but their insatiable hunger for more before they even leave the mountains they found the gold in leads to one of them being murdered and all of their newfound riches lost forever all due to greed.
In the world of this film, which is also the one we live in though it was made sixty years ago, God as well as "honest work" is for suckers. There is always an easier way to have money than just making a living. The allure of easy money and ultimately more and more money is a trap of course. Once you have attained a certain level of money and status you are constantly focused on not losing that money and status. It strikes me that only God at the center of one's life would eliminate the reflex of glancing behind you to see who is getting ready to overtake or staring with envy ahead towards those who have wealth beyond yours. None of us are immune to this regardless of our annual income/our net worth.

Sit down one day and take an honest look at how you spend your money or how you have spent your money at different times in your life. If you balance your checkbook the old fashioned way (pencil and paper) you can see in black and white when you tithed and gave beyond your tithe and when you did not. Don't be surprised if blessings are more evident, even in retrospect, during these times. One cannot be the servant of two masters. Not for very long anyway.