WHAT’S THE IMPORTANT STUFF?

 

John Wesley’s Manifesto continues with the next item. This one definitely goes against the whole American dream, doesn’t it? Merriam Webster dictionary defines the American dream as “a happy way of living that is thought of by many Americans as something that can be achieved by anyone in the U.S. especially by working hard and becoming successful.” So if we work hard, and work long hours, then we can earn lots of money. When we have lots of money, then we can buy a big house and a couple of cars and go out to eat as often as we want.

 

But the American dream turns into a nightmare for many. Even prior to COVID, people were struggling financially. Adam Hamilton says it this way: “not because they were not making enough money. They were struggling because they were living beyond their means and saving nothing." (Adam Hamilton, Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity)

And now we are in the “new normal”, in the midst of a Pandemic as COVID-19 ravages people’s health, their lives, their families, their communities, their churches, their jobs, the economy and, to be frank, the entire world. It isn’t an attack on the American dream per se, but it does seem to have had a huge impact on the American Dream.

·             How can we work if we can’t leave our house?

·             How can we find a job if businesses are closing?

·             How can I be sure that if I go to church, or I go to the store, or I… that I won’t get sick?

·             So many people that are sick die

·             People that get sick and recover continue to suffer health problems.

It's a scary time. Is this the time to look at our lives and our dreams and our society and wonder if basing everything on money and profit and consumerism isn’t working? Maybe it’s time to take a different perspective.

We have to redefine their relationship with money and think biblically and carefully to discover what our lives are really all about. We have to experience the life God wants us to live and have the kind of relationship with money that God wanted us to have. It’s hard, because we can no longer see the difference between our wants and our needs. We LIKE immediate gratification.

Dave Ramsey is credited for saying: “We buy things we don’t even need with money we don’t even have, to impress people we don’t even know.”

 I’ve heard that expanded to impress people we don’t even like! So we have all these big houses and cars and lots and lots of stuff, and then we have to rent storage units because we have too much stuff! Does that make sense?

George Carlin talked about having enough stuff in one of his skits. He talks about having a house full of stuff, and then going on vacation, and having to decide what is important enough to pack. Then while you’re on vacation, you take an overnight trip, and you have to consolidate your stuff down even more. You have to figure how what is the important stuff or what you HOPE is the important stuff.

So what IS the important stuff? Christ promised an abundant life – not defined by things but by purpose and meaning. We, as Christians, and as the church, have to help people find this abundant life; not defined by an abundance of stuff, but an abundance of meaning. 

It brings us right back around to John Wesley’s idea of creating a society based on values!