The American dream is no joke every American’s dream hence the name the American Dream, we want a stable job, a nice house, lovely family, cute kids, food on the table and another extra crap we could ever need. However, over the years we have almost made a whole new region called the American dream Christianity. Allow me to explain.
“There is a common, worldly kind of Christianty in this day, which many have, and think they have enough- a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice- which costs nothing and is worth nothing.” -J.C. Ryle
Every single Christian loves Jesus, I mean that one of the main aspects of being a Christian. But a question I have been asking is do I love Jesus or the idea I make Him to be. Have you ever thought “wow I am such a good Christian, I already share the same views as Jesus does” Until we read something in the Bible and we don’t 100% agree with and think we’ll God doesn’t mean that. So, in our minds, we cross it out of the Bible and pretend like Jesus never said that. When we do this, we mold Jesus into someone else. We try to make Him more like us. I try to make Him more like me because I like me, and I am comfortable with what I think and believe. Eventually, when we go to church, we are no longer praising God, but we are praising ourselves. But guess what, I can’t save myself and I’m going to take a leap and say you can’t save yourself either. We need to God of the Bible to save us. We need to break out of our American Christianity and start realizing that we aren’t always right, and the Bible is the word of God. Nothing is wrong in there. If we ever think otherwise we are just being stupid and ignorant.
Have you ever thought to do something outside of your comfort zone and said no because you don’t think Jesus was specifically telling you to do it? We often say, “I’m just waiting to feel called” So, we just sit here and wait to be called. Guess what, sometimes we are never called, and we end up wasting our lives waiting. But we don’t mind because while we are waiting, we are just relaxing inside of our comfort zones buying the nicest car, going on a vacation to get away from our already easy life. We like this side of being a Christian, because “God never called me to do that or anything for that matter” Yet, in Matthew 28:19 it says “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” God has already given us the green light. He wanted us to tell other’s about Jesus, we don’t need to wait for a yes because He has already given it. But here’s the sad truth. THAT SCARES US. That makes us leave our cushy lifestyle and then we actually have to change. Crazy right? But in our American dream Christianity we don’t have to, we can sit around all day and waste our lives away. This is your wake-up call, you have the green light, only stop when God gives you a red light.
Every year the newest gadgets come out and for some reason, we feel the need to buy it everything. I mean who wants to be the weirdo with last year’s model? Have we ever thought of not buying another $1,000 phone and instead donating it to a local charity or to missionaries? Maybe giving it to your local church? No, we don’t because on this new phone the battery last 5 minutes longer than the last one and the camera is .5% better and yadda, yadda, yadda. Matthew 19:21 “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give it to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven; and come, follow me.” Being a Christian isn’t having all the latest things and telling others “Look I became a Christian and now I’m rich because God gave me money, so you should be a Christina too.” It’s saying I’ll give up everything I have if that means I can be closer to Him. Everything on this earth means nothing compared to the goodness and love of God. So, sell your things, give to the poor. I can almost guarantee you have way more stuff than you could ever need. We serve a God who was homeless on this earth and had nothing. So, let’s be more like Him.
Have you ever heard someone say that God will protect us from hard times, therefore we can live a life of constant sunshine and happiness? Obviously, no one ever says that, but we all think it. It’s one of the biggest lies we hear and tell ourselves. “Our God loves us so much He would never let anyone hurt us, let alone lay a finger on us.” This is literally the slogan of the American dream of Christianity. Let to tell you the cold hard truth. Life isn’t easy and it won’t ever be. Life is hard and being a Christian is harder. People are going to hate you for what you believe, you could be imprisoned for what you believe or even killed. Some people are killed for going to church yet, here we are complaining that it starts too early or lasts too long. There are going to be times you won’t be able to make ends meets and those you love will get sick and pass away. Your heart will be broken and you will wonder where God is. But let me tell you some good news Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” God will comfort us during hard times and when we suffer it only furthers the kingdom of God. “The message of the scripture & the gospel of Christ is not that in following Him everything goes right, but that He is enough no matter what happens” – Matt Chandler
I hope this post was a bit of a wakeup call. To get rid of our American dream Christianity and instead take up our cross and find the real Jesus. It won’t always be fun and maybe a little scary at times, but it will be oh so worth it. Because our society likes to have this ideal Jesus who only wants us to do want is comfortable for us. So, dig to find true Christianity. We are going to have to sacrifice and deny ourselves. So, please read the Bible, pray and strive for the real Jesus. Don’t pick and choose throughout the Bible based on what is most convenient for you. Ditch the American Dream.
“We are settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually abandoning ourselves.” -David Platt
Emily<3
