God’s Dream

May 2011

Last month I asked whether a wrong interpretation of the American Dream conflicts with discipleship or following Jesus. After a month of honest assessment, my verdict is it does. And it touches on greed.

I recently questioned a prominent IMB missionary who served most of his life in countries not known for their rampant affluence about my assessment. He agreed with me. When he was overseas he used his energies to help in rapid movements of multiplying disciples and starting new churches. He counted the costs it took on lives, status, and comforts. He was willing to pay a price. With little energy spent on the pursuit of comforts he was able to pursue the spread of the kingdom of God. Now that he is back home (in the USA), he has to be on guard not to be sucked into the vortex of affluence.
What then shall we do? Frankly, I can only offer my educated guess. You’re free not to read further. But if you lend an ear you may hear unpleasant things.

Today, I only present one biblical antidote to the consumerist approach to life in the land of the American Dream.

Be on guard. Be careful of the creepy weed of greed. It must be nipped in the bud or it’s most difficult to control. Fruit trees must be sprayed at the flowering stage. Otherwise worms are sure to overtake the fruit.
We tend to pursue the comforts affluence affords. We learn it in every institution and we are socialized by it and into it. Everything around us screams “Consume.” We grow into consumerism. The outer beauty industry lures us with flowing hair and unblemished skins. We consume products that promise “eternal youth.” We wake up daily ready to pretend that soaps and creams are our escape from the reality of our pretentious lives. “What, why haven’t you ordered your iPad 2 yet? Hurry up or you’ll fall behind.” Little do we realize that “hurrier we go the behinder we get.” “Surely, now that you got a raise and can afford a bigger house, you will? Right?” Yes of course. Then we live month to month on smaller paychecks and plastic cards in the pursuit of our greedy dreams.

Guard your heart against the greedy creepers of materialism.

Our greed feelings are played like a taut violin string. The sound is alluring. We are mesmerized to let go of our contentment defenses. Soon the creepy weeds of affluence overtake our wills and greed’s coup d’état on our souls is a fait accompli. It is said that the average American watches (willingly or unwillingly) over 600 commercials on any given day. We cannot serve two masters. In the end one will master us (See Luke 16:13; Matthew 6:24; and cf. James 4:4).

The reason Jesus warns us not to be duped into thinking that we can serve two masters is because of the nature of the slavery and the nature of following him. We can only be slaves to one master. We must choose to be followers and whom to follow. Serving either master demands all. Serving the pursuit of the greedy version of the American Dream takes all our energies and leaves us with leftovers to pursue God’s dream. Many churches attempt discipleship as an add-on to the pursuit of the American Dream. Limited success is guaranteed. One of the lessons of following Jesus to every new disciple and every seasoned disciple is the abandonment of our own greedy dreams. Let’s face it. The American Dream’s distortion rides on the fast tracks of greed.

One of the imperfections that the imperfect church must deal with among Jesus’ disciples is our penchant for greed, which flies under the flag of the pursuit of happiness. I wonder when the last time you preached or heard preaching on greed? I wonder if we will ever deal with these things that are barriers to following Christ! Surely when Jesus commanded his disciples to follow him, one thing he meant was “let not greed be part of your lives.”

Greed is love traveling the wrong path. Dante (The Inferno) paints a picture of the greedy in chains, facing the ground, with backs toward heaven, and with eyes greedily fixed on things earthly. The chained speak: “Greed quenched my love of good, thus all my labors were in vain.”

Jeff Cook says, “Greed pursues accumulation” … and is a “desire to possess more than I need, because of fear or idolatry.” He likens the greedy to Dickens’ Scrooge “who sat alone at night with a single candle to light his frigid bedroom.” Dickens then speaks for Scrooge: “Darkness is cheap, … and Scrooge liked it.”

The heart is subject to the twists of the winds of the greedy pursuits of the American Dream. When the American Dream comes to mean greed, a life twister threatens. Those who walk with the Master prefer to follow the contentment of the Holy Spirit in sailing the path of seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness before seeking anything else. The pursuit of the Kingdom of God will be the subject of the next article (Matthew 6:33).
Guard your heart, the first antidote in combatting the pursuit of greed, may look like this on a day-to-day basis.

1. Consider your daily purchases and accumulation. What value does each add to the spreading kingdom of God? Not all purchases are bad. All consuming keeps some people working and providing for their families. But a serious look at the buying patterns in our lives should be done regularly. How’s my heart affected by these purchases? Should I declare a moratorium on purchasing anything new for a week, a month, a few months?

2. Become aware of wants and needs. Often we convince ourselves that wants are needs. Some effort should be spent to sift through our motives.

3. Daily, consider the energies (emotional, physical) you spend on feeding the greed monster. Like the Cookie Monster greedy is demanding. Living less greedy lives should be the subject of discussion, study, and accountability on every church’s agenda.

Send this Column to a Friend






Past Columns

Return to top