Seeking the American Dream

"What am I doing here?"  This is a question that Dr. K.P. Yohannan asked himself as a young Pastor in Dallas, Texas in 1977.  Dr. Yohannan is the founder of Gospel for Asia and the author of the book Revolution In World Missions.  He was convicted by the affluent life style he was living, in comparison to the poor brothers and sisters he left behind in India.  He was convicted that there were so many lost and dying without ever hearing the name of Jesus Christ.  As I am reading his book, I am convicted too.  What AM I doing here?  What is the focus of my life, of each day.  I find too often I am serving myself and am concerned about my own hopes and dreams.  Ah, dreams.  Our American culture has immortalized the perception that 'following our dreams' is the greatest goal in our life.  Or as the Disney movies so often put it, 'follow your heart'.  That is not the message of the gospel.  That is not even close.  Jesus said, "If any man will come after me, let him lay down his life and follow after me".  He said to lay down your life!  Jesus never said anything at all about following our dreams.  That is a lie from the pits of Hell.  It is self serving and self seeking.  It is a deception we need to weed out of our hearts and minds.  It is a lie we need to protect our children from.

     So, the question is, "What am I doing here?"  What are you doing here?  The way we live our life is an example of our faith and our beliefs.  That is convicting.  I need to repent and follow after Him.  I do not want the 'American Dream'.  That is a deception also.  I have fallen into that myself.  There is nothing wrong with wanting to take care of our families and to work, that is godly, but our focus should not be on pursuing the elusive dreams of our heart.  Jesus said "Life is not measured by how much you own".  Wow!  We can add to that and say that 'Life is measured by how much you give'.  I need to do a better job with giving.  I need to do a better job with putting my focus on the Kingdom of God and not the kingdom of Dan.  I need to lift up my eyes toward heaven and ask God what is important to Him.  I need to give more to those that do not have food and clothes, like the millions in India that are in poverty.

     Gospel for Asia is an excellent group that gives directly to their native missionaries.  They give directly to poor children so they can go to school and have food and clothes.  If you want to check them out go to gfa.org