The American Dream! In America we have been blessed with an abundance of physical blessing. I was moved to tears this morning at breakfast. My children ate the grits their mother had prepared for them just the way they like it, with sausage and cheese all mixed in. After finishing the grits they said, we are still hungry, and their mother began making toast to finish off the remains of their hunger. I thanked the Lord that my children would not go through this day hungry. It is a great blessing, and I am so thankful. Yet, I realize the danger crouching to consume me in that moment and to consume my children. The American Dream is a ferocious monster with an appetite that even overshadows my hungry little hoard.
The American dream is the thought process that goes like this: I need to work really hard to become successful. When I have become successful I need to enjoy the fruit of that success all the while balancing investments to ensure continued success. I need to be constantly upgrading to bigger houses, newer cars and TVs, nicer clothing, and on it goes. There is not much more distasteful to an American than the guy who refuses to work and just wants a hand out. The hero is the one who works and succeeds. But do you know what Jesus calls the mindset of the American dream? He calls this mindset foolishness!
Luk 12:15-21 And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (16) And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, (17) and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' (18) And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. (19) And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' (20) But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' (21) So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."
The American dream is the thought process that goes like this: I need to work really hard to become successful. When I have become successful I need to enjoy the fruit of that success all the while balancing investments to ensure continued success. I need to be constantly upgrading to bigger houses, newer cars and TVs, nicer clothing, and on it goes. There is not much more distasteful to an American than the guy who refuses to work and just wants a hand out. The hero is the one who works and succeeds. But do you know what Jesus calls the mindset of the American dream? He calls this mindset foolishness!
Luk 12:15-21 And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (16) And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, (17) and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' (18) And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. (19) And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' (20) But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' (21) So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."
Jesus is clear, "life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." He says to the rich man who was successful in obtaining "the dream" life "Fool!" He had lived his life for himself without regard for God. This is obviously not a call for laziness or a condemnation of those who work hard. It is a call to honor God in our poverty and with our wealth. It is a call to recognize that God does not (as Randy Alcorn says) grow our wealth to "increase our standard of living, but to increase our standard of giving." David Platte likens materialism to drinking salt water. It feels like it is meeting the need that we have, but every sip of salt water dehydrates the body further. Thirst increases. It will kill a man. Wealth is that way for a man spiritually. It feels good, but every taste only leads to wanting more and brings destruction spiritually. Wealth causes us to depend less on God and increasingly upon ourselves. It is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Break the cycle. Lift your eyes to that which really matters. God does not call you to live poor miserable lives. He calls us to live in the treasure of heaven and not to settle for the limited treasure that this world has to offer. Mat 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." Jesus is so glorious that it truly is a joy to the man who would hold all his earthly wealth so loosely that he is freed to lay hold of the treasure of Christ! Let us let go and lay hold today!
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