American Dream – Part I
God’s Nightmare
American Dream: a widespread determination by Americans to provide their children with a better upbringing than their parents were able to provide for them; a philosophy that with hard work, courage and determination, anyone can prosper and achieve success.
What happened? How did we get here? Is that what our forefathers had in mind? We have been working so hard with this lie the devil puts in our heart that we do all of this for our children or our families. It is so easy to fall into this trap. The enemy whether being the devil, the world, or our flesh is not leading us to provide a better life for our children, but for us to labor in vain trying to get more useless stuff. We fill so many landfills and then we burn it. That is not God’s idea of a burnt offering. There is no sweet smell in that! We should consider why garbage smells so bad. God hates the garbage we fill our lives with. He makes us smell how much He hates it. Somehow, the smell does not seem to bother us anymore. That is a bit disturbing that we can actually sit around and enjoy the smell of our own waste.
How did a dream so quickly turn into a nightmare? Honestly, it was a nightmare from the beginning. The “American Dream” seems to be God’s nightmare. The strong family values we used to have, have now been replaced for video games, cell phones, internet, etc. How did we fall victim to this living nightmare? O, my beloved, the devil is a liar.
In John 8:44, Jesus says to the Pharisees “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” I believe Jesus is also referring to our flesh and the mindset the world lives by. We look around and see what the world has and it looks nice; that second glance is what destroys us completely.
Let’s read Psalm 49 from the Message together:
1-2 Listen, everyone, listen— earth-dwellers, don’t miss this.
All you haves
and have-nots,
All together now: listen.3-4 I set plainspoken wisdom before you,
my heart-seasoned understandings of life.
I fine-tuned my ear to the sayings of the wise,
I solve life’s riddle with the help of a harp.5-6 So why should I fear in bad times,
hemmed in by enemy malice,
Shoved around by bullies,
demeaned by the arrogant rich?7-9 Really! There’s no such thing as self-rescue,
pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
The cost of rescue is beyond our means,
and even then it doesn’t guarantee
Life forever, or insurance
against the Black Hole.10-11 Anyone can see that the brightest and best die,
wiped out right along with fools and dunces.
They leave all their prowess behind,
move into their new home, The Coffin,
The cemetery their permanent address.
And to think they named counties after themselves!12 We aren’t immortal. We don’t last long.
Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.13-15 This is what happens to those who live for the moment,
who only look out for themselves:
Death herds them like sheep straight to hell;
they disappear down the gullet of the grave;
They waste away to nothing—
nothing left but a marker in a cemetery.
But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death,
he reaches down and grabs me.16-19 So don’t be impressed with those who get rich
and pile up fame and fortune.
They can’t take it with them;
fame and fortune all get left behind.
Just when they think they’ve arrived
and folks praise them because they’ve made good,
They enter the family burial plot
where they’ll never see sunshine again.20 We aren’t immortal. We don’t last long.
Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.
Chasing false visions the devil sets in our mind of the American dream has had us living God’s nightmare in our hearts. After we see the condition of our lives, I can’t help but dwell on a song that asks, “Is there hope for every man? Is there a solid place where we can stand in this dry and weary land? O, PRAISE THE LORD there is hope for every man! There is love that never dies! There is peace in troubled times! JESUS is hope for every man! ”