The American Dream

We want to be happy. “God wants us to be happy.” We want our spouses to be happy. We want our kids to be happy. We just want everyone to be happy. We especially want everyone to be happy with us. This is the American dream—we all deserve to be happy. But the American dream spawns the American nightmare. The pursuit of this dream leads to addiction, deviance, mental illness, and death because it is ultimately based in self-centeredness. It is accurate to proclaim that the crown and glory of all the fruit of the flesh is self-indulgence. It is the expected reward for having labored in the vineyard of self-centeredness. Happiness is the illusive prize.

BIBLE TRUTH
“The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength" (Deut. 6:4–5 NLT).

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO ME?
The continuous pursuit of pleasure-producing indulgences culminates in discouragement. The eventual outcome of self-indulgence is discouragement because we want what we want, but our wants are never satisfied. Then we move to a new set of desires, believing these new choices will produce the ultimate fulfillment.

Ultimately there is nothing that can impart contentment apart from Christ. We flit from bloom to bloom looking for the nectar of life, but only God is able to provide true satisfaction. The spiritual fruit of self-control is experienced through dependence on the Spirit of God so we do not have to depend on ourselves. His divine enablement leads to personal empowerment.

PRAYER
Dear God, I do not want to be dominated by my sinful nature that thinks about sinful, self-centered things. I truly desire to be controlled by the Holy Spirit and think about things that please the Spirit. I choose to avoid a dead life with my mind controlled by my sinful nature. I want an abundant life filled with peace, so please keep me aware of the Spirit’s control of my mind. (Rom. 8:5–6)


(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)


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