Trading the “American Dream” for the “heavenly vision” | Denison Forum

Trading the “American Dream” for the “heavenly vision”

The concept of the “American Dream” was popularized during the Great Depression in 1931. It typically includes buying a home, owning a car, getting married, raising children, having pets, taking vacations, retiring, and then dying. According to a new study, the estimated cost of all of that per household, over the course of a lifetime, comes to $4,442,050.

Here’s the problem: men average $3.3 million and women $2.4 million over their careers. No wonder we’re so stressed over finances these days: 47 percent of US adults recently said money has a negative impact on their mental health and causes them stress. According to a new survey, 73 percent of Americans rank their finances as their No. 1 stress in life, ahead of politics (59 percent), work (49 percent), and family (46 percent).

But what if we have the wrong “dream”?

“Not a dream of motor cars and high wages, merely”

James Truslow Adams, the writer and historian who first promoted the idea of the “American Dream,” defined it as “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.”

He added:

It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages, merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of what they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.

Adams’s concept is interestingly similar to what theologians call biblical anthropology. According to Scripture, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). As a result, we can say with King David, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).

Our Creator is also our provider: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:28–31). 

Our Father not only wants what is best for us—he wants us to be at our best. In the words of Mr. Adams, he wants us to “be able to attain to the fullest stature of what [we] are innately capable.” This is why he endows us with abilities, capacities, resources, and spiritual gifts sufficient for our unique kingdom assignment. He then calls us to that mission which we can uniquely serve. In this way, Jesus uses us to continue his ministry on earth, serving as his body in our world (1 Corinthians 12:27).

Does this mean that we are guaranteed financial prosperity? Not at all. Some of Jesus’ disciples were indeed prosperous, but others were not. What each had was enough to do what they were intended to do.

Their life purpose was not prosperity in this life but significance in the life to come. Everything in this world was a means to the ends of eternity.

When we see our finances as they did, we will “abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8). We will “not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” we will let our “requests be known to God” (Philippians 4:6). As a result, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus” (v. 7).

“He must not acquire many horses for himself”

The key is using the temporal for the eternal and not the other way around.

In 1 Kings 10 we read: “Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem” (v. 26). Why was this a problem?

The Lord earlier warned the nation that when they chose a king, “He must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lᴏʀᴅ has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again’” (Deuteronomy 17:16).

Solomon would soon violate verse 17 as well: “And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away.” We read in 1 Kings 11: “King Solomon loved many foreign women . . . He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lᴏʀᴅ his God, as was the heart of David his father” (vv. 1, 3–4).

My point is that the Lord warned of the dangers of materialism as well as those of sexual immorality, placing the first before the second. Could it be that self-reliant materialism opens the door to other sins?

“I am God, and there is no one else like me”

Paul Powell observed: “Materialism is believing that life consists in the abundance of the things we possess. But life can come unraveled in a new suit as well as in an old one. The thrill of a new car passes as fast as the miles on the odometer. Family members can fight as violently in a mansion as they can in a mobile home.”

The antidote to the financial stress of our day is remembering who God is and who we are. It is seeing him as the King of kings and Lord of lords and ourselves as his beloved children. It is then using what he entrusts to us to fulfill not your “American Dream” but God’s “heavenly vision” for you (cf. Acts 26:19).

Why do you need to trust his omnipotent grace today?

The post Trading the “American Dream” for the “heavenly vision” appeared first on Denison Forum.

October 8 | 1 Kings 11; Philippians 2; Ezekiel 41; Psalms 92–93 (Part 1)

in few places does the word however have more potent force than in 1 Kings 11:1: “King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women.” In those days, the size of a king’s harem was widely considered a reflection of his wealth and power. Solomon married princesses from everywhere, not least, the writer painfully explains, “from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, ‘You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods’ ” (11:2).

That is exactly what happened, especially as Solomon grew old (11:3–4). He participated in the worship of foreign gods. To please his wives, he provided shrines, altars, and temples for their deities. Doubtless many Israelites began to participate in this pagan worship. At the very least, many would have their sense of outrage dulled, not least because Solomon was known to be such a wise, resourceful, and successful king. Eventually his pagan idolatry extended to the detestable gods to whom one sacrifices children. Thus Solomon “did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done” (11:6). Of course, David himself failed on occasion. But he lapsed from a life of principled devotion to the Lord God, and he repented and returned to the Lord; he did not live in a stream of growing religious compromise like his son and heir to the throne.

The sentence is delivered (11:9–13): after his death, Solomon’s kingdom will be divided, with ten tribes withdrawing, leaving only two for the Davidic dynasty—and even this paltry remainder is conceded only for David’s sake. Had Solomon been another sort of man, he would have repented, sought the Lord’s favor, destroyed all the high places, promoted covenant fidelity. But the sad truth is that Solomon preferred his wives and their opinions to his covenant Lord and his opinion. During the closing years of his reign, Solomon had plenty of signs that God’s protective favor was being withdrawn (11:14–40). Nothing is sadder than Solomon’s futile effort to have Jeroboam killed—evocative of Saul’s attempt to have David killed. But there is no movement, no repentance, no hunger for God.

There are plenty of lessons. Be careful what, and whom, you love. Good beginnings do not guarantee good endings. Heed the warnings of God while there is time; if you don’t, you will eventually become so hardened that even his most dire threats will leave you unmoved. At the canonical level, even the most blessed, protected, and endowed dynasty, chosen from within the Lord’s chosen people, is announcing its end: it will fall apart. Oh, how we need a Savior, a king from heaven!¹

---

¹  Carson, D. A. (1998). For the love of God: a daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. (Vol. 1, p. 307). Crossway Books.

October 7 | 1 Kings 10; Philippians 1; Ezekiel 40; Psalm 91 (Part 1)

the visit of the queen of sheba (1 Kings 10) has often been spiced up in books and films until it has become a royal love story. Not a hint of love interest or sex scandal peeps out of the biblical text. The function of the queen of Sheba is to demonstrate by a concrete example that Solomon’s reputation had extended far and wide, and that that reputation was grounded in reality. Some observations on the encounter:

First, at a rather superficial level, this account provides an opportunity to say something about the nature of truth in the Old Testament. Some have argued that the Hebrew word for “truth,” ‘emet, really means “faithfulness” or “reliability,” and that it has to do with relationships and not propositions. Indeed, some argue, Old Testament writers simply do not have a category for true propositions. Like most errors, this one has a modicum of truth (if I may use the word) to it. Certainly ‘emet has a broader range of meaning than the English word truth, and can refer to faithfulness. But words can display faithfulness, too. The queen of Sheba tells Solomon that the report she heard in her own country about his achievements and wisdom was ‘emet: it was “true” (10:6, NIV); more literally, because the report was faithful, i.e., because the propositions conformed to the reality, the report was the truth. Away, then, with a reductionistic analysis of what ancient Hebrews could or could not have known.

Second, much of the chapter provides succinct descriptions of Solomon’s wealth, military muscle, successful trading expeditions in seagoing vessels, musical instruments, and more. Yet space is reserved for several explicitly theological themes. Royalty visited Solomon to listen to his wisdom—and this wisdom God himself had put in his heart (10:24). Indeed, Solomon enjoyed an extraordinary reputation for maintaining justice and righteousness in his kingdom, so much so that the queen of Sheba thought his achievements in this regard demonstrated “the Lord’s eternal love for Israel” (10:9).

But third, all of this is in some ways a setup for the next chapter. Despite all the blessings, wisdom, power, wealth, prestige, and honor that Solomon enjoyed, all received from the hand of God, the sad fact of the matter is that his own conduct was paving the way for judgment and the undoing of the Davidic dynasty. These convoluted developments await tomorrow’s meditation. Here it is enough to reflect on the fact that extraordinary blessings do not necessarily signal faithfulness. Because God is so slow to anger (surely a good thing!), the judgments that our corruptions deserve are often long delayed. Do not be hasty to assume that present blessings signal present fidelity: the terrible fruit of faithlessness may take a long time in coming.¹

---

¹  Carson, D. A. (1998). For the love of God: a daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. (Vol. 1, p. 306). Crossway Books.

September 29 Devotional: 1 Kings 1; Galatians 5; Ezekiel 32; Psalm 80 (Part 1)

the transfer of regal authority from David to Solomon (1 Kings 1) is messy. One of David’s sons, Adonijah, confers with Joab, the head of the military, and tries to take over. Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, reminds her ailing husband of his promise that Solomon would be the heir, and the complicated account plays out.

Once again the chronic family failure of David stands out. The author of 1 Kings draws it to our attention in the parenthetical comment of 1:6. Referring to Adonijah, who was attempting the coup, he remarks, “His father had never interfered with him by asking, ‘Why do you behave as you do?’ He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom”—as if good looks bred a kind of easy arrogance that thought everything, including the crown itself, was his by right.

Of the many important lessons, we may highlight two:

First, even gifted and morally upright believers commonly manifest tragic flaws. Occasionally a Daniel arises, of whom no failure is recorded. But most of the best in Scripture betray flaws of one sort or another—Abraham, Moses, Peter, Thomas, and (not least) David. The reality must be faced, for it is no less potent today. God raises up strategically placed and influential leaders. The odd one is so consistent that it is very difficult to detect any notable fault line. But usually that is not the case. Even the finest of our Christian leaders commonly display faults that their closest peers and friends can spot (whether or not the leaders themselves can see them!). This should not surprise us. In this fallen world, it is the way things are, the way things were when the Bible was written. We should therefore not be disillusioned when leaders prove flawed. We should support them wherever we can, seek to correct the faults where possible, and leave the rest to God—all the while recognizing the terrible potential for failures and faults in our own lives.

Second, once again the sovereignty of God works through the complicated efforts of his people. When David is informed of the problem, he does not throw his hands into the air and pray about the situation: he immediately orders that decisive, symbol-laden, and complex steps be taken to ensure that Solomon ascends the throne. Trust in God’s sovereign goodness is never an excuse for inactivity or indolence. Long years of walking by faith have taught David that whatever else “walking by faith” means, it does not warrant passivity. If we are to avoid acting in defiance of God, or in vain efforts to be independent of God, we must also avoid the pietism that is perennially in danger of collapsing trust into fatalism.¹

---

¹  Carson, D. A. (1998). For the love of God: a daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. (Vol. 1, p. 298). Crossway Books.