Be The Fruit

I. T. – The idolatry of the American Dream.

by Bill Blair on 31/07/08 at 5:24 am

I heard a message last night from William Guice tonight where he contrasted the “Kingdom of the World” to the “Kingdom of God.”  One of things he hit on is the us vs. them mentality many of us get into in an election year like this one.  He drove home how government, politics are not what being a Christian is all about.  I touched on this topic in a way when I described how politics can become an idol in our lives here.  One thing he wrapped up the talk with was the question, “Are we more wrapped up with being Americans than we are about being follower’s of Christ?”  That is a deep question.

That question got me to thinking about what it means to be an American.  I began to think about the American dream.  What is the American dream?  When I think about it, I think about things I heard as a kid.  “If you work hard, you can be anything you want to be.”  Then I think of things like this:  “In this country, a person can start with nothing and move their way up the ladder and achieve great things.” 

But what are we really talking about when we say these things?  Are we talking about that anyone can become a good person?  No.  I think we are talking about a person making lots of money and acquiring things.  When we talk about the American dream we talk about rags to riches stories.  We talk about people who had nothing who now live in mansions. 

As I scanned my “Idolatry Thursday” writings earlier here, it really hit me that a lot what I have been writing about are things that we Americans strive for.  A lot of what I have written seems to be what the American dream is all about.  We want more stuff, more entertainment, more beauty, the best education so we can get better jobs to get more stuff, and on it goes.  The essence of the American dream seems to be centered on what man can do rather than what God can do.  We say, “I can do anything I set my mind to,” while I read where the apostle Paul writes “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).  Paul knows where his strength comes from while we tend think of it as coming from within.

The great problem is that the American dream becomes the god of our lives and we strive to attain more and more things through our own efforts.  How many of us are building our own Towers of Babel so we can stand back and marvel at our own greatness?  I know I have built a few, how about you?

Don’t get me wrong, I love living in America.  It is a wonderful blessing to have the measure of freedom that we have.  The past two nights I have had the ability to freely assemble with other believers to worship and learn about our God.  This is something we take for granted.  The early Christians did not have this freedom, and many Christians today that live  under totalitarian regimes don’t have this freedom either.  You want to know something interesting?  The rate of growth in such countries is very high today while the numbers of Christians in free countries is on the decline.  The early church was much the same.

So I ask and wonder:  Could it be the American dream that is getting in the way of us spreading the gospel?  Are we so consumed with trying to get more and more things that we lose sight of our real calling to go and make disciples in this world?  I think we have gotten so consumed with our idols that we just don’t have time to engage our friends, family, and neighbors with the gospel.  Could this be why freedom equals a decline in Christianity?

In the American dream we dwell on the rags to riches stories, but there is only one rags to riches story that matters.  That is the story of Jesus becoming a man so that he could live a sinless life and die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  You see, no matter what we attain, what we create, or what we accomplish, we are all just rags.  The only riches that exist are those that can be found in Jesus Christ.  We must examine our lives and see if we are more consumed with striving for the American dream rather than living for Jesus.

William, my friend, you always try to make people think so I think accomplished that last night.  Hopefully what I have written here causes others to think as well.

Until next time, put God first and “be the fruit.”