The American Dream and Finding our "Treasure"

Today I am posting because tomorrow is the 4th and I will be with my family and serving at my church instead of blogging! I am sharing something I wrote on yesterday's scripture reading. I will warn you...it got pretty long and I admit I had a lot of thoughts to share, so sit down when you have an hour or so :) It's mostly unedited because I was just writing away. I have been reading a lot lately about the current political and social debate issues and so I have been influenced by some to join in the discussion on "freedom". Before I wrote this I had been reading and viewing a lot of video discussion by other theologians and ultimately this is for me about what the Bible has to say. However, for more insight, after you read my thoughts, consider investigating some input on related issues with the following:

Tim Keller and Albert Mohler discuss "what is morality" and how do we judge what is "harmful". This elaborates on the issue of "independence" and "freedom"
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/09/20/what-is-morality-other-than-harm/

Tim Keller references in the above discussion a book by Andrew Delbanco called "The Real American Dream" and there is a NY Times review of this book from a secular view that I don't necessarily agree with on all points but does conjure up some interesting discussion
After viewing the above video for context, Read the article here http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/11/07/reviews/991107.07rortyt.html

I am currently reading JD Greear's book called "Gospel" and here is an interesting perspective (video discussion) on the gay marriage debate
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/07/03/how-can-homosexuality-be-wrong-if-it-doesnt-harm-anyone/

And you can go even deeper into this with Voddie Baucham's article on "civil rights"
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/07/19/gay-is-not-the-new-black/

And finally, here are just some interesting facts on "9 things you should know about Independence Day and the Declaration of Independence"
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/07/03/9-things-you-should-know-about-independence-day-and-the-declaration-of-independence/

Please share your thoughts on anything I've written or on the above commentaries. I am always open to reflecting on other opinions and ideas that are shared in the spirit of MUTUAL understanding.

SOAP devotional for July 2, 2013

S – Matthew 6:19-34

¹⁹ “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. ²² “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. ²³ But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. ²⁵ “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? ²⁷ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? ²⁸ “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, ²⁹ yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. ³⁰ And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? ³¹ “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ ³² These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. ³³ Seek the Kingdom of God^[d] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. ³⁴ “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

O – There really is SO much here that we can learn. What strikes me most this time in reading this passage again (for the 100^th? time) is vs. 22 talking about the eye providing light to the body. I’ve never really focused on this part that says your body is filled with “darkness” when your eye is bad. And then it goes on to say that if you “think” you have light but you really have darkness, how DEEP the darkness is. To me this is like going to the eye doctor and finding out you have cataracts or that you need even a minor adjustment to your vision with glasses. You have been walking around and maybe not even aware that your eyes were working so hard to see clearly when all of a sudden you put on some glasses or have surgery and VOILA! You can see clearly! It’s like euphoria when you realize how clear your vision is!

Another observation I haven’t really thought about before until this reading is the lilies of the field and how God cares for the “wildflowers”. God cares deeply for these flowers that really know nothing of God’s greatness and therefore if He cares for them, we should assume how much more He cares for us. If you think about it, no one plants wildflowers…they just grow, wild and out of control. This makes me think of kids that are for whatever reason left to basically raise themselves…they grow “wild and out of control”. This doesn’t always mean they are bad kids. I think it depends on which road they choose to take. There are kids that are neglected, abused, run away, etc. Some of these kids choose to make something of themselves in spite of their situation. They work hard in school. They look for mentors and ask for help. There are “rich” kids that raise themselves or have a nanny because mom and dad are busy making the dough or playing tennis or busy with their “charity work”. Many of these kids may see the disadvantaged in the world around them and choose to focus on the good they can do instead of the loneliness they may feel. I used to teach a bunch of kids that lived in apartments and were what we called “latch-key kids”. They came home to an empty house because maybe they were being raised by a single mom working two jobs or doing shift work at weird hours and these kids had to be responsible enough to cook their own dinner and do their homework on their own. I don’t think these parents didn’t care for their kids, I think they were in a tough spot and felt they didn’t have much choice.

A – Today in reading this I feel like there are a lot of puzzle pieces in my head that are coming together to create a picture of the American Dream. This week we celebrate “Independence Day” and the birthday of our country becoming an independent nation. There are people all over the world that seek to come here to work, and go to school, and live the “American Dream”. MANY are crossing the border from Mexico illegally every day because if their children are born here then they will be American and have a “better life”. So many people think we have it so good and in reality we have it better economically than probably 90% of the rest of the world…is that too high of a number??? Probably not…there is a LOT of poverty around the world. However, I would like to venture an idea that we are really no better off than any other country and are not setting a very good example of using our “independence” for good. Now stay with me because I have a lot of thoughts that I’m trying to communicate clearly…I hope this makes sense.

My Grandfather, Michael Varro, was born in Hungary (in a part that actually became Romania after WW2) and immigrated as a child with his father and brothers to Saskatchewan, Canada. His father desired to make a better life for his children after his wife died and spent everything he had to come over on a ship to North America. He worked for the railroad and they lived in a boxcar. They had nothing. My Grandfather found the Lord as a young man at a revival and hitchhiked to California to go to Bible College. He met my Grandmother and they had 5 children (one died at the age of 4) and were missionaries to Taiwan and China for over 30 years. He became an American citizen shortly after my Dad was born in Alaska, before it was even a state. Ok, so that’s the short version and one branch of the family tree on where I came from. I share that because that is MY personal foundation for living the American dream…and yet, it’s not. My Grandfather came here for a better life and chose to become an American citizen, and yet he never desired to “get rich” or make a name for himself, and he definitely didn’t stay IN America to live out his purpose. His “American Dream” was actually to seek God and serve Him. I didn’t know my Grandfather well and honestly I resented him a lot when I was younger because he always seemed to care more about his “work” and what God wanted him to do than his family. However, I have come to the realization as an adult that he was simply doing what he believed he was called to do and he knew that God would take care of the rest of us. He was not “worried” about his family because he had a confidence in God’s provision. Now maybe he did actually take that a little too far…he was flawed as we ALL are in relationships to some extent because he didn’t always see that God’s provision for families is a loving, present father/grandfather. We all could use some help in the area of HOW to love our “people”. But what I have learned from his example is that our true purpose is to follow the Lord’s call and let HIM worry about the rest.

In this passage in Matthew, God is trying to teach us about DEpendence on Him. We are often so busy pursuing the “American Dream” and paying our bills and seeking that ONE thing that will make life “better” (if I only had a new car, if I only had an extra $100, if I only had a boyfriend, if I only had a better job, etc.), and even trying to figure out our PURPOSE that we are missing our true PURPOSE. If we look at the wildflowers of the world and how so many kids that are raising themselves are becoming “independent” in their thoughts because they are thinking “I don’t need anyone because I know how to take care of myself”. We as a society are doing them and ourselves a disservice because we are becoming a society of like-minded people. We are becoming more and more “independent” as a nation when God is trying to draw us to Him and become a DEpendent people. We think “The world has let me down…I can do this on my own.” And God says “You need me. I’m here to help. I am already working along side you and AHEAD of you. I have a ‘plan and purpose’ for your life”. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Just look at what is happening in our courts and political arena right now. The social issues that are getting everyone heated are causing division and greater independence. They are about personal “freedom”, “choice”, “civil rights”. We are dividing ourselves into small minority groups, even among Christians. We are speaking up for what we believe in, which is GOOD, but we are losing track of HOW we are treating each other and therefore creating MORE division. The plain truth is that we are not all playing nicely in the “sandbox” and we are all trying to take our ball and go home, but the REALITY is that we are a NATION that is a community, whether we like it or not and we need to GET ALONG. There really isn’t any “independence” when it comes to living in a community, unless you’re the unibomber living off by yourself in the woods somewhere. We all have neighbors and co-workers and drive down the road together. Our kids go to school together or play at the park together. Our dogs go to the same vet and we go to the same doctor’s office. There isn’t really “independence” when we must interact with people every day. And I would venture to say that I think the key here that relates to the “American Dream” is that we are getting so focused on our “cause” that we are forgetting what is at the root of it all. Life is really about relationships and we are doing a STINKY job at the “golden rule”.

Which brings me back to focusing on the scripture at hand. The primary message here really is we are not to store up treasures on earth, nor are we to worry about our needs, and we are to seek and serve God. This is our purpose. We have become a very secular society of late and so many do not understand or embrace this purpose. Many believe that we are just here and we are to embrace the “YOLO” way of life, not concerned about anyone else…this is REAL “freedom” right?  What I do shouldn’t concern you and you are free to do what you want to do as long as it doesn’t affect me. Is this really the society that we want our kids to grow up in?  We all just go to work, earn our money, take our kids to Disneyworld, sleep with who we want in secret, drive the speed limit when a cop is around, maybe kick the dog when we get mad, cheat on our taxes a little, tweet some thoughts out to cyberspace, lie to our mom about why we can’t come home for Christmas, and celebrate when we get a bonus by buying a boat. We are mostly living a good life and our “bad choices” aren’t really affecting anyone. Is this really such an awesome way of life compared to Egypt, or Serbia? Maybe it is in the political spectrum or economically. I don’t know. I’m glad we’re not having riots and civil war for sure, but it actually makes me sad that we are living this way. I really believe that working for the “American Dream” and then turning on the news and watching us all hate on each other or being left with BAD relationships is not really a “dream.” I think it’s possible that some that aren’t focused on living the “dream” are actually happier???

I realize this is getting super long so here’s one last thought. Personally I believe we live in the best country on the planet. When we have a crisis we draw together…like 9/11 or the Boston marathon bombing. Recently when firefighters here in Houston were injured and killed, there were people giving blood and raising money for the families. I have seen strangers that are not even Christians return found wallets and give money on the street just because they are good people that want to do a good thing. I think MOST of us want to do the right thing and help out our fellow man. I think there is GOOD in all of us. Don’t even get me started on the debate about Christians being the “good people”. That’s not the GOSPEL. The reality is that we are a HURTING, lonely, lost, prideful people that want to fill the empty hole we feel every day with STUFF that can’t ever fill it. And this brings me back to the part about the EYE. We “covet” what we SEE every day. I got this line from the movie “Silence of the Lambs”…this is the BEST bad movie ever! The serial killer guy coveted what he couldn’t have and therefore it drove his bad behavior. He justified his bad behavior because the world had wronged him and maybe there was probably a little psychosis going on. Unfortunately I don’t think we are really much different. We justify our behavior because it’s “not as bad” as a serial killer or it’s not as bad as someone that we JUDGE as worse than ourselves. Let’s take a reality check. If I SEE the next car I want to drive and I focus on what I need to do to get that car, what would stop me from stealing it, or working two jobs and neglecting my kids so I can buy it? Is that really any different? If I am a lonely woman who’s husband travels a lot (and this is not me by the way :) and fill my loneliness with ice cream while WATCHING Channing Tatum in “Magic Mike”, am I really so satisfied that I will be “happy” with my husband when he gets home? Or vice versa and I'm the husband that travels a lot and WATCHES the adult channel in the hotel room. Will I be satisfied with my wife that I SEE isn't as skinny as she used to be after having the kids and eating ice cream while I'm gone? If I am an investment banker and I SEE a great deal of money every day, would it not be easy to dip into some of it a few cents here, a few cents there and no one will notice, and justify it because I work hard and deserve it? I’m not saying wanting a new car and working hard for it, or watching Channing Tatum, or eating ice cream, or working in investments is BAD. The point is, we ALL are going to WANT something and does any of this really bring us the “American Dream” in the end? And what happens when we finally achieve this “goal”…we turn our attention to the NEXT thing, that’s what. This is really a lie we tell ourselves because we are never going to be satisfied until we are focused on SEEKING and SERVING God. That’s it. That is God’s plan and His design when He created us. We will continue to debate what is “freedom” and “independence” and “right and wrong” and who is “entitled” to whatever for all eternity until we actually embrace the idea that GOD’S LOVE, His sovereignty, and His provision are the answers to all of our questions.

 

P – Lord God, my prayer today is that we would “seek and find” YOU! I pray for our country and all those that are trying to live the “American Dream” by working to get more money, find satisfaction in achievement, jumping on the political bandwagon, or fill the empty loneliness. Lift the veil of discontent and lies, Father, that we might find satisfaction and treasure in YOU.  And I pray this for myself and my family as well…that we would each know our purpose and that we would hear YOUR voice loud and clear above all others to know what it is that you desire for us to do each and every day. Lift the burden and temptation on each of us to feel that we have to do it on our own, or juggle it all, or even seek satisfaction in the world. The world in and of itself was not really designed to meet all of our needs and your plan for us is a perfect one. I pray that we would all embrace your design to be fulfilled in YOU and you alone. I pray that we would SEE you in all your glory in the world but not be swayed to become OF the world. I pray that our eyes would be opened to see what breaks your heart and that you would equip us to go and DO what you call us to do. My heart is full Lord for a desire to share how much you love us and I am thankful that you SEE us in our own little spot among so many of your children…you see EACH of us and love us no matter what we’ve done, providing all our needs. On this week of celebrating our freedom, I celebrate the FREEDOM I have to worship and follow you and the FREEDOM I have in Christ! WOW! What a gift to know that I will not ever be separated from you Lord. Thanks be to God!