God’s plan and the American dream

Was the American dream God’s plan for our great grandparents? I think it may well have been their reward. When evil raised its head it was their blood that covered the shores of foreign lands. Before them their forefathers gave their lives to end slavery, and before that to create a more perfect union; a government for the people, by the people. Why do we so easily believe that we have the right to prosperity and the pursuit of happiness? Should we believe that the vision God gave to our great grandparents is the same vision he has for us today? Just as they stood and fought against the evil of their generation, so must we. Too many generations have forfeited the fight. If we are not careful now we may cause our children to some day account for our sins. We are not to blindly follow the vision of the proceeding generation. Each generation must seek God, and their own vision from God. 

When our expectations are based on our past experiences, we aren’t seeking a vision from God, We’re seeking our own vision. But Paul says, forgetting what’s behind, we press on. However we must not forget what we press on towards. If we live without anticipating our victory, and pressing toward it, then we forfeit ground to the enemy, and he presses on for more and more blood. Thomas A Kempis, wrote in his book, The Imitation of Christ,“ if man could live here always he'd have no desire for heaven.” Can you imagine, being content to live here; in the valley of the shadow of death, next to the gates of hell, covered in its stench? If Fabreez has taught us anything it’s that we can be “Nose blind.” This is complacency. Those who lived through and fought against the evil that spread though Europe in the 1930s would wonder at our naïveté. We question moral values and the essence of right and wrong, and give ground to the enemy.

When the Nuremberg trial took place the Nazi officers claimed they did no wrong, they were just following orders. And, besides all this, they said the Jew was not a human being, he was less than a dog. Where does the moral worth of every individual come from? Our forefathers gave their blood to defend the belief that these truths are self-evident! All men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights! Are there self-evident truths in our day? If we have no victories, no testimony of overcoming the world, sin, and death: we are a complacent church. If we lose sight of the self-evident one the evil day will consume us. When we have no testimony of what God is doing in us, of being transformed into his image, we aren’t pressing onward into our destiny, we are stumbling back into the darkness.  ‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭3‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬ says “…live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming…