The American Dream :: Friday E-Devotion

The perfect house behind the picket fence. 1.5 kids and the right spouse. Greatest job and enough money not to worry. And so much more.

The American dream is so many things to so many people. For the person who travels to America from a country where there is no freedom. The dream is freedom. For the person who arrives in America poor and homeless. The dream is opportunity and success. For graduate, the young adult, the dreamer and others, the dream is success based on what they think. The American dream is so many things to so many people.

For American Christians, what is the American dream? Don't get your Sunday School answers out for me. Just get honest. What is your dream? Have we allowed the priorities set by materialistic society depicts our dreams and destroy our ability to see what God wants?

Listen, God is in to dreams. He even gives them. But what He desires is people, people just like you and me, to look his direction, listen to His voice and let Him fill our heads and our hearts.

"Do not put your trust in idols or make gods of metal for yourselves. I, the LORD, am your God." Leviticus 19:4 (NLT)

"In the last days, God said, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams." Acts 2:17 (NLT)

My wife and I got up this morning as she held our little boy we finished a conversation. Turning on the TV there were Christian music videos on. We watched one by the group Casting Crowns that starting my thoughts for the day. Here are the words:

"American Dream" by Casting Crowns

All work no play may have made Jack a dull boy
But all work no God has left Jack with a lost soul
But he's moving on full steamHe's chasing the American dream
And he's gonna give his family the finer things

Not this time son I've no time to waste
Maybe tomorrow we'll have time to play
And then he slips into his new BMW
And drives farther and farther and farther away

So He works all day and tries to sleep at night
He says things will get better;
Better in time

And he works and he builds with his own two hands
And he pours all he has in a castle made with sand
But the wind and the rain are comin' crashing in
Time will tell just how long his kingdom stands
His kingdom stands

His American Dream is beginning to seem
More and more like a nightmare
With every passing day
"Daddy, can you come to my game?"
"Oh Baby, please don't work late."
Another wasted weekend
And they are slipping away

'Cause he works all day and lies awake at night
He tells them things will get better
It'll just take a little more time

He used to say, "Whoever dies with the most toys wins"
But if he loses his soul, what has he gained in the end
I'll take a shack on the rock
Over a castle in the sand
Now he works all day and cries alone at night
It's not getting any betterLooks like he's running out of time

'Cause he worked and he built with his own two hands
And he poured all he had in a castle made with sand
But the wind and the rain are coming crashing in
Time will tell just how long his kingdom stands
His kingdom stands

All they really wanted was You...

Have you heard of EDITH BURNS?

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why is it Good Friday?

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Day 8 in Cuba

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