The American Dream or The American Disaster

John 2:13-22
Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

At first glance in reading this passage it appears that Jesus is zealous for a building, the temple, but if you read it more clearly, you realize that Jesus is not at all zealous for a building, but rather each one of us. At the end of the passage, He says, “He was speaking of the temple of His body.” He also calls each of us the temple of God many times:

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. (1 Cor 3:16-17)
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (1 Cor 6:19)
For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God,And they shall be My people.” (Col 6:16)
In whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Eph 2:21-22)

Christ was not only disappointed because at that time they turned the building of the temple into a business place, but God is disheartened by the way we turn our bodies, His temple and dwelling place, into money making business driven machines. The American Dream tells us to work as hard as we can to make as much much money as we can to get as high on the ladder as we can to give ourselves and our families the best lives and highest standard of living we/they can have here. We think this will give them happiness and rest, so we compromise everything we value (our faith, our families, our friends, etc) for a better life here that is never satisfied. We think one day, we’ll have enough and get to the point we want to be at and we won’t have to work so hard, then we’ll be able to focus on all those things that we value and we’ll be able to do it comfortably. That day never comes: we or others may pass away, our families or friends follow our examples and move away or become too busy for us, it never seems like it is quite enough yet… Before we know it, its too late, we’ve lived our lives for the things that never mattered in the first place and we can’t have our lives back.

American Dream

Phil 3:18-20
For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shameâ€”who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

How are you spending your time? What is your mind set on, concerned with, or occupied with? That determines who your God is, not where you pray on Sunday mornings. At the end of the day, this life is passing and everything in it, and the life to come is eternal and everlasting. Will you live for eternity or will you live for today? The only everlasting eternal things that are going to be around for eternity are God and people.

This was not only God’s message to me yesterday during quiet time, but it was also his message to me throughout the day. As I entered the car and turned on Christian radio, there was a family devotional that spoke about the American Dream and who people live to give their families everything, but all their families want is to spend time with them. The people think they are doing the best things for their family because they are giving them the better life. They are working hard for them after all, why doesn’t their family understand, but all the family wants is their love, not their money and not the better life. The people think I’ll give them my love and my time, just as soon as we’re comfortable in the better life. Before they know it their kids are grown up and moved out and too busy for them. After the devotional, the worship song “American Dream” by Counting Crowns came on. The lyrics are below:

All work no play may have made Jack a dull boy
But all work no God has left Jack with a lost soul
But he’s moving on full steam
He’s chasing the American dream
And he’s gonna give his family finer things

“Not this time son I’ve no time to waste
Maybe tomorrow we’ll have time to play”
And then he slips into his new BMW
And drives farther and farther and farther away

Cause he works all day and tries to sleep at night
He says things will get better;
Better in time

[Chorus]
So he works and he builds with his own two hands
And he pours all he has in a castle made with sand
But the wind and the rain are comin’ crashing in
Time will tell just how long his kingdom stands
His kingdom stands
Well his American Dream is beginning to seem
More and more like a nightmare
With every passing day

“Daddy, can you come to my game?”
“Oh Baby, please don’t work late.”
Another wasted weekend
And they are slipping away

‘Cause he works all day and lies awake at night
He tells them things are getting better
Just take a little more time

He used to say, “Whoever dies with the most toys wins”
But if he loses his soul, what has he gained in the end
I’ll take a shack on the rock
Over a castle in the sand

Now he works all day and cries alone at night
It’s not getting any better
Looks like he’s running out of time

[Chorus]
‘Cause he worked and he built with his own two hands
And he poured all he had in a castle made with sand
But the wind and the rain are coming crashing in
Time will tell just how long his kingdom stands
His kingdom stands

All they really wanted was you
All they really wanted was you
All they really wanted was you

During my lunch time Bible reading, God said: According to the doings of America you shall not do. You shall not live for the riches and comfort of this world. You shall not make idols for yourself of career, education, position, status, money, comfort, etc…

Lev 18:3-5
According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

In the evening, I was reading from a book called When the Game is Over it All Goes Back in the Box. The message from that was the same. Life does not have a rewind button. Don’t live it in a way that you will regret it. Each day, that day shifts from the future column to the past column. Life has a real urgency because it cannot be changed. The meaning of life is that it cannot be changed. Do your commitments match your convictions? Do you take stock of your day-to-day actions? Is there a gap between what you value and the way you spend your time, money, or energy? The ultimate commitment is the one God enters with us. All our smaller choices about relationships and work and leisure are to be shaped and evaluated by how they help us keep this one great commitment. Jesus made the object of life clear when he said love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. God and people are what matter. It then goes on to identify the four most common regrets in life:

I would have loved more deeply.
I would have laughed more often.
I would have given more generously.
I would have lived more boldly.

Then it states, that there is no wasting a single moment.

God confirmed this same message to me this morning:

1 Pet 1:13-21
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy [holy means being set apart/consecrated for God] in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.