* This is fairly raw. But I’ve been thinking about this for a while and needed to get it down. Provides more questions than answers, so I’d appreciate some conversation on this one.
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
Crazy Love by Francis Chan
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Radical by David Platt
All great books that I’ve read dealing with a Christian’s identity in the world around us. Who we are to be. What we’re called to do. How we should live our life. I will admit that each of these books have provided me some great insight in to the thoughts and desires of my heart lately. In all the questions I have about my own circumstances, I’ve been pondering the following:
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Has the “American Dream” infiltrated the church and God’s call for His people?
Here’s what I mean. The “American Dream” is the desire to live a life of comfort in all aspects of one’s life. To have money, a white picket fence, a job you love, your trophy wife, children, and some weekend toys to play with. In her book, The Ethnic Press: Shaping the American Dream, Leara Rhodes states, “According to The Dream, this includes the opportunity for one’s children to grow up and receive a good education and career without artificial barriers. It is the opportunity to make individual choices without the prior restrictions that limited people according to their class, caste, religion, race, or ethnicity.” In other words, achieve what you want because in this country, there is nothing that can hold you back! People have been pursuing this dream ever since Columbus crossed the horizon. It’s the continuous effort to climb the ladder of success without limitations or barriers, and however one defines success is up to them. But what does this mean for those who are striving to live the life that God has called them to?
Should this “dream” mentality even surface in the mind of a Christian? Does this conflict with the purpose-driven, crazy, radical life that we can live in Christ?
“It’s the nature of the beast inside us to retreat to the familiar rather than to strap on faith and face the future.” ~ Chuck Swindoll
Have we as Christians allowed the American way of life to infect the very nature of who we are called to be? Have we gotten too comfortable and familiar with our American lifestyle, that we reject what God may be calling us to do?
Seek the Lord with all your heart, and He will make it very clear who He wants you to be, where you are to go, and what you are to do.
“Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him…” ~ 1 Corinthians 7:17
Jeremiah 29:11-13, Psalm 46:10, Proverbs 3:5-6, Proverbs 21:1, Colossians 3:23-24
Still processing…but I’d love your thoughts and comments.
Rak Chazak!! God bless you!!
