Are you living the American dream? If so, you’re one of the 12.5 percent.
In 2014 USA Today published an article detailing the cost of living the “American dream” for a family of four. The article grouped living expenses into three distinct categories:
Essentials: housing, groceries, transportation, medical, clothing, utilities, etc.
Extras: vacations, entertainment, cell phone, cable, Internet, etc.
Taxes and savings: state and federal taxes, college savings for children, 401k contributions, etc.
After adding up the costs in each of these areas, the price tag for living the American dream came to a staggering $130,357, an income level only one in eight American families reach on an annual basis.
Certainly, counterpoints can be made as to the necessary levels of “need” described in the article. For example, average housing expenses are based on a $275,000 home. To many that may seem excessive. However, if you live in or near a place like Los Angeles, it’s hard to find a decent home for anywhere near that cost. It’s all relative.
The Internet has plenty of reaction about the accuracy of the numbers and commentary about the disproportionate dependence placed on money in today’s society. But I’m going to focus on something else entirely: a danger more subtle that’s built into the fabric of our hearts.
In Matthew 19 Jesus encounters a man wealthy, educated, and spiritual, who asks Jesus a simple question: “What good things must I do to get eternal life?” (verse 16).
This man was the epitome of self-sufficient. No matter who you are or where you live, self-sufficiency is based largely on the ability to provide for yourself and your family. If you have a roof over your head (whether it costs $275,000 or not), food to eat, and enough left over to do a little saving and a little spending, you are self-sufficient by the world’s standards.
This young man had all that and more. Jesus’ answer, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor” (verse 21), had nothing to do with money and everything to do with sufficiency.
The same basic message is given to the church at Laodicea, which, as we know, also applies to the broader church from 1844 until the Second Coming. “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17).
Despite his money, the young man was severely lacking, as are you and I.
In Romans 3 the apostle Paul paints a pretty discouraging picture of humanity, noting that all of us are under sin, and that “there is no one righteous” (verse 10), “there is no one who seeks God” (verse 11), and that together we have “become worthless” (verse 12).
To me, that sounds like a group of people that are anything but sufficient.
Whether we make $130,000 per year or not, the devil continually prompts us to depend on ourselves. These deceptions are especially effective in the developed world, where most of us go to work, drive a reliable car, and live in a residence in which we can adjust the temperature with the push of a button. We’re living in the heart of Laodicean apathy.
No matter how much we have, it is essential that we wake up every day keenly aware of our greatest need. To truly be sufficient, we must take Jesus’ follow-up advice to the Laodicean church and “buy from [Him] gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see” (Rev. 3:18).
Whether we’re part of the 12.5 percent or struggling to make ends meet, heaven’s riches are vastly superior to the American dream.
