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Showing posts with label American Dream. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Dream. Show all posts

First Letter to the Americans

Posted in , , By Nick Smith 0 comments


A work of fiction.

Chapter 1: Wealth

Nick, a servant of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus in America:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This letter is different from many others in that I currently dwell among you.  I write to you not as one above reproach.  Rather, I write to you as one who has humbly recognized many of the pitfalls of faith in our great society.  I seek to overcome these pitfalls in my own life and to increase your awareness of them that you may retreat from them yourself before it is too late.

I have seen how God has blessed you greatly among the nations.  Your wealth is unrivaled.  Why then are you not following the commands that have been given to you?  Do you not remember the admonition from James that “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”?  Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules?

“But,” you offer in defense, “we have tithed upon every dollar, nickel, and penny we have earned.”  I applaud you for your faithfulness and your reward will surely be in Heaven.  However, Jesus sees your offerings today just as he saw them during his time on Earth.  Many rich people threw in large amounts, but it was the poor widow who gave less than a penny who drew Christ’s praise.  When she gave, it was a sacrifice – something our society teaches should never be done intentionally.  She trusted the Lord with her whole heart and leaned not on her own understanding, or the understanding that her culture impressed upon her.

And look where you are spending God’s money that has been entrusted to you!  You, who are already blessed beyond measure, use God’s money to bless yourselves further still.  Places of worship have become theaters and churches have become social gathering places!  You celebrate spending millions of dollars on brick and mortar and then pat yourself on the back for investing a paltry percentage of that on the true Church – helping the helpless, the widows, orphans, and needy, and putting into practice Christ’s Great Commission.

Consumerism is consuming Christ’s Church in America!  You want more because American society demands that you should.  But that is man’s wisdom, not God’s.  God’s wisdom teaches us that true sacrifice is of greater value than gold.  You love God.  Good!  But you have allowed American wisdom to convince you that you need more because God wants you to have more.  But do not be fooled – like many lies, this is veiled in a half-truth.  God does indeed want you to have more.  He wants to bless you with treasures beyond compare.  But He wants to bless you with treasures that moth and rust cannot destroy and thieves cannot break in and steal.

Now is the time to step out in faith, to prove that we truly are ambassadors to this country with our citizenship in Heaven.  It is time to shout, “We will no longer be waves in the sea, blown and tossed by the wind!  We are going to look into our mirror, the Word, and remember what we look like when we step out into the world.”  Christ died for far more than brick and mortar and white picket fences.  He died for people.  Let’s follow His example by making our own sacrifices.

(see also Chapter 2: Relevancy, Chapter 3: Priorities, and Chapter 4: Love)

The American Dream (or Nightmare)

Posted in , , By Nick Smith 0 comments

The American dream. Having money and security. Being able to get whatever you want, whenever you want and never having to worry. Sounds like something worth striving for, right? Sure.

But at what cost? I’ve talked in several posts about how we, as Christians, need to have an eternal perspective. Instead of worrying about the here and now, we need to be concerned about what consequences our actions in the here and now will have in eternity. Lately I’ve been wondering what that perspective means in terms of American culture and especially the American dream. I’ve even been wondering if…maybe, just possibly…the American dream is more of a curse than a blessing.

When I was in college, one of my professors shared a very interesting statement with us: all civilizations begin in stoicism and end in hedonism. At first, I had absolutely no idea what that meant. I mean, those are big words, am I right? But then he broke it down. Stoicism means an indifference to pleasure or pain. It means that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to survive and you don’t care if it causes you pain or if you’re able to be happy. Conversely, hedonism means striving for maximum pleasure with minimal effort. So, all civilizations begin with people being willing to do whatever it takes to survive and end with people wanting pleasure, but not wanting to exert any effort.

If stoicism and hedonism were on opposite sides of a scale, which side would you say America in 2012 is closer to? Regardless of political affiliation, I think most of us could agree that we are much closer to hedonism. In fact, hedonism describes our culture pretty well.

Now let me shift gears from the political back to the spiritual. What effect is an attitude of “maximum pleasure for minimal effort” having on our relationship with God? I’ve thought about this a lot, and I think I can boil down the effect to one simple statement. If my Earthly needs are provided for, why do I need God? This is the unspoken sentiment of many Americans.

We have it so great in America. For most of us (there are obvious exceptions), our worries are more centered on pleasure than necessity. We’re not worried about where our next meal is coming from because that’s not a problem. We’re more concerned about how many times we’ll be able to afford to go out to eat. When we have it so good, what’s our motivation to depend on God? Spiritually speaking, this may be more of a curse than a blessing.

There was a very interesting survey taken in 2010 that found similar results. It has a really cool chart, so I urge you to take a look. But to boil down the results, less money equals more faith.

Jesus himself talked about the perils of pursuing wealth (Matthew 6:24, 7:24-27, 19:23-24). But what are we to do when we are Americans and pursuing wealth is part of American society? We are to be Christians first and Americans second. Paul tells us that we are Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). An ambassador is someone who is sent from their home country to live in a foreign country in order to represent their people. As Christians, our home is Heaven, but we are living on Earth. We need to always remember that.

I’d like to end by sharing an amazing song by Casting Crowns called “The American Dream.” If you’re interested, you can see the lyrics here.

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