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Q. Why are believers sucked into the American Dream?

A. Well, for example, we all want what's best for our kids. But in our affluent suburbs, where our culture's values are relentlessly forced on the young, we see that mostly in economic terms. Our kids have to wear the same designer clothes and hit the ski slopes on the same weekend.

You call the American dream false. Why?

Because it involves the individual pursuit of happiness, defined by visions of affluence and status—values diametrically opposed to the values of God's kingdom. We can't claim to be biblical Christians simply by living the American dream with a little Jesus overlay. For all the talk about the lordship of Jesus, what clearly comes first for us is getting our careers under way and getting our lifestyles upscaled. Steward-ship is trivialized to how we can responsibly use the leftovers for God. When evangelicals talk about finding God's will, it's often code language for figuring out how to talk God into helping us get what we want. God becomes a co-conspirator to insure that we acquire everything we want out of life.

What's the alternative?

We should become co-conspirators in God's plan to change the world. We must invite God's Spirit to transform our focus from materialism and individuality to spirituality and worship in community. Only then is there hope of our being faithful biblical stewards, spending less time and money on our own lives, freeing them up for the advance of God's kingdom.

Tom Sine writes about missions and the future of the church.

Adapted from: The Midas Trap (Victor, 1990)

Copyright © 2001 by the author or Christianity Today, Inc./Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lift my sights, Lord, from the shallow goals that consume my culture to Your lofty purposes.

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