"The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals... in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity.. success and an upward social mobility...achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers."- Yes I did just pull this definition from Wikipedia.
"Life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone with an opportunity for each according to ability or achievement regardless of social class or circumstances of birth."- James Truslow
In America, the "dream" is about getting richer, healthier, more comfortable and therefore "happier" than the generation before. Many put their focus solely on the hard work aspect "It doesn't matter where you were born or what your circumstances are, if you just put your shoulders in and muscle through it you can accomplish anything." Others focus on the barriers that need to be removed in order for that hard work to make maximum difference. "People can't reach their full potential unless we remove the extra barriers that have been placed in their lives due to the circumstances of their birth and social class." We could debate endlessly over the health of "The American Dream" in today's world. But that's not why I'm talking about it.
At it's heart, the American dream is about getting more; More wealth, more food, more stuff. It's also about getting less; Less work, less discomfort, less struggle. Is that really what's best? No, not really. Do the values of the American Dream line up with God's values? Again, no not really. Now, you'll hear other Americans say "Hang on a second! God values hard work. He values and wants people to of every social class in his kingdom! Those are all part of the American Dream and they are GOOD values." In a sense, that's true. God does value hard work and he does value those of every social class... But for what end? Nowhere in the Bible do I read that God desires for us to have upward mobility within the classes. Nowhere do I see where God wants us to do a lot of hard work so that we can retire and kick back towards the end of our lives. The whole point of the American Dream is to improve your stance in life as defined by the socioeconomic classes defined by our country. That is very much the opposite of what God wants.
The whole point of socioeconomic classes is so that we can be better than someone else. "I know I have arrived at the next stage of wonderfulness when I no longer have to live in "that" part of town or when I no longer have to send my kids to "that" school. I am no longer part of the undesired "others" but now part of the next group up. I'm climbing that social ladder to something amazing. Oh sure, I'll be more generous as I climb this ladder but that doesn't change the fact that I WANT to climb this ladder." If you were born in America you were raised on this concept, in one form or another. Maybe it wasn't so straight forward. It was probably more in the "you can accomplish whatever you dream of if you work hard enough" way of thinking. Many of us were raised to think of those who didn't climb out of their current social rung were lazy for not aspiring to be more (see: higher up on the ladder) and that those who were on the top got there from all that fabulous hard work and deserve the right to kick back (regardless of whether or not the results of the hard work were inherited or not)... The point is, no matter how the American Dream was presented to you it's end goal is for you to rise above your current circumstances (which, no matter where you are on the ladder, isn't good enough) and make yourself even better.
What does God want? God wants us to work hard to achieve His glory. (Matthew 5:16. 1 Corinthians 10:31, 1st Peter 4:11 ) He wants us to take care of those that society has called "lazy" and "worthless" because of where they seem to be stuck at (or willingly staying at) in life. (James 1:27, John 14:28) God wants us to be worried about our spiritual upward mobility, not in that we need to become better or more spiritually pure than our neighbor but because we desire to be closer to our Father. Not only that but he desires that we help others on this journey and not leave them to figure it out on their own. (John 5:44, Matthew 28:19-20 ) He desires for us to put others needs before our own, to worry more about how we can remove the barriers in other peoples lives and relieve the stress found there so that they can have a better glimpse of the love, peace and grace that their Father in Heaven offers them. (Phillipans 2:4)
We have got to dismantle this American Dream. As Christians it can NOT be our dream. Our dream should not be of our own success and our own laurels to sit upon, it must be to help others reach true success and true comfort and that comes in knowing and following Christ.
