st<\/sup> Century is no exception.<\/p>\nPart of the core of\u00a0the \u00a0“American Dream\u201d today is the quest to be upwardly mobile materially. The United States has a strong work ethic which has helped us to become an economic superpower. Americans work hard to gain affluence undreamed of by most of the world. Many succeed. The private enterprise system seems to work well and its triumph over competing ideologies reinforces the belief that the \u201cbusiness of America is business\u201d. The superiority of the system is affirmed by many if not most Americans.<\/p>\n
There is, however,\u00a0a cost.<\/p>\n
In order to gain this affluence the typical worker is putting in far more working time today. The 40 hour workweek has become, during the past twenty years, the 60 hour work week. This is especially true in what we call \u201cCorporate America\u201d. Big business asks its employees to sacrifice more and more time in the pursuit of more and more productivity. Nationally a large percentage of these workers, perhaps 15% percent, are conservative Christians. We, too, have bought into the workaholism of the 2017 version of the American Dream…<\/p>\n
Christians in this country increasingly have less time to spend pursuing the kind of life ministry modeled in the New Testament. There is less time being devoted today to everything from church services to intentional efforts to invest in the kinds of relationships that build community. When your work and your commute take up 10 to 12 hours a day you do not have much time or energy left. The job becomes the focus of life. Investing in eternal things takes a back seat.<\/p>\n
The irony of all this is that many caught up in the corporate lifestyle are too exhausted to even enjoy the fruits of their labor. They make good money but the price, among other things, is lost leisure time. What we have in the U.S. is a Protestant work ethic that has gone out of control. We are not lazy, it\u2019s true, but maybe a little more healthy margin in life would be a good thing.<\/p>\n
What seems to be missing is balance. Our lives are weighted too heavily towards getting ahead in the working world. Perhaps the lower standard of living that might result from quitting corporations that demand our souls would be worth it. Trade the new BMW in for a used Chevy, buy a smaller house, forego the annual vacation in the Caribbean; all these things are not as important as forging real relationships with God and with other human beings.<\/p>\n
American-born missionaries to places like Africa and South America often do not enjoy their furloughs home. They have grown use to the slower rhythm of life in other countries. What they see upon arrival back in the land of their birth is a manic society that has no time for the more important things in life. These missionaries have learned that relationships are much more highly regarded elsewhere than affluence.<\/p>\n
Perhaps Christians here need to re-evaluate the American Dream in light of what the Bible tells us are things that really matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved Throughout history the Church has been influenced by the cultures with which it has been co-existent. In some cases this influence has been healthy, in some cases not. Human societies have always been of a mixed bag of the good and the bad. American society in the 21st… <\/p>\n
Read more Dream or Nightmare?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6GkOA-gf","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":415,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2013\/10\/02\/of-bugs-bunny-and-beethoven\/","url_meta":{"origin":1007,"position":0},"title":"Of Bugs Bunny and Beethoven","date":"October 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Of Bugs Bunny and Beethoven Copyright 2005, 2013 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved Pop culture is the \u201ccoin of the realm\u201d in America. Our generation\u2019s shared memories often come from television cartoon shows we watched when we were children and the music we listened to when we were teenagers.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":318,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2012\/11\/24\/better-than-we-could-ever-dream\/","url_meta":{"origin":1007,"position":1},"title":"Better than We Could Ever Dream","date":"November 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Better than We Could Ever Dream by Shea Oakley All rights reserved God\u2019s perfect will for us is better than our greatest idea of what that will is. This is important for believers to remember when it seems like the best thing we can imagine for ourselves is insufficient to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":225,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2012\/07\/15\/an-unchanging-desire\/","url_meta":{"origin":1007,"position":2},"title":"An Unchanging Desire","date":"July 15, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"An Unchanging Desire Copyright 2010 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved We long for permanence, for the unchanging, for constancy, and in this world we are frustrated because the truly permanent is not yet fully here. Notice I say not yet fully here. What is permanently here, for the believer,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":378,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/24\/removing-the-log\/","url_meta":{"origin":1007,"position":3},"title":"Removing the Log","date":"May 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Removing the Log Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved The only way to effectively confront sin in others is to admit to the sin we have been guilty of ourselves. People do not enjoy being lectured by someone who sets themselves up as morally superior to them, but if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/16\/racism-is-a-dirty-word-diversity-is-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":1007,"position":4},"title":"Racism is a Dirty Word, Diversity is Not.","date":"April 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"During the last few years in the United States Evangelicals have wrestled with the question of racial reconciliation in the Body of Christ. Not long ago the huge Southern Baptist Convention, next to Roman Catholicism America\u2019s largest denomination, publicly apologized for past racism against African-Americans. The issue was a major\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":513,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2014\/05\/14\/why-dying-to-self-is-a-good-thing\/","url_meta":{"origin":1007,"position":5},"title":"Why Dying to Self is a Good Thing","date":"May 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved. \u201c \u2018Cause love never claims the victory until it finally gives it\u2019s all.\u201d The above line, from a Ginny Owens song, speaks volumes about the Christian life. We find it so hard to believe that sacrifice is a good thing. In our fallen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1007"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1563,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions\/1563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}