For the past several years, I have been thinking about how one traverses the gap from Have to Have Not. Plenty to Sufficient. Lavish to Meager. It is all very well that we understand the American Dream and our own version of it. But I am convinced Jesus came that we might not pursue the American Dream, but search for something far better. After all, the Son of Man, who came to serve and give his life as a ransom for many, claims He didn’t even have a place to lay His head.
The thing is, most of us start out incredibly rich. Forbes published an article a couple years ago titled Astonishing Numbers: America’s Poor Still Live Better Than Most of the Rest of Humanity. The term “poor” negates itself when we zoom out to see the rest of the world. In America, our basic needs–food, clothing, shelter, are essentially met from the day we are born until the day we die. Therefore our goal, our American Dream is usually to improve in every aspect of life. Bigger salary, larger home, more gratification.
We live in a day where our lives are almost 3-D. Media surrounds us in every form, not just the newspaper that, ten years ago, we could choose to leave on the driveway in it’s soggy plastic wrap. The lowly telephone has morphed into a pocket gadget that accompanies us everywhere, internet in tow. The standard of living is molded by every social media gathering place, every app at the tap of a finger. Here are a thousand pictures of what you could want and don’t yet possess. The sky is the limit. Our American Dream becomes exponentially bigger then–become a renowned scholar! write a book that changes lives! make seven, eight figures! Imagine and create a dream wedding fit for a queen! Indulge in only the highest quality of food and clothing! Go places no one else has ever been. Build a dream house, no corner unadorned. Be famous, admired. Have followers.
We are incredibly me-centered.
But Jesus twisted all we thought was right and noble and tipped it completely upside down when He said, “he who loses his life will find it.” “He who is last shall be first.” “Do things in quiet, where no one sees.”
It is hard to grasp, this idea of giving up more to have less, yet being better off for it. And, for those us who just happened to be born into a country where we “live better than the rest of humanity”, it is nearly incomprehensible. My kids cannot grasp the idea of having only one choice of cereal for breakfast, heaven forbid they ever become familiar with true hunger, starvation.
How do we wean ourselves off ourselves?
Jesus said it would be easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Well now, we have a problem! Something has to change, and it looks like it is going to be me.
