America seems to perpetuate certain values. These values center around hard work, family, and financial security. While, these of themselves are respectable things to strive for, we must never loose their perspective in relation to Christ.
A lot of what I've been reading lately has triggered this post, mostly from some revelations in my own life. I'm currently job-seeking and finding myself anxious and worried. This worry doesn't stem from any fears for myself, but from what I feel some of my family expects from me.
I don't want to disappoint my family, but if God calls me to a career that means I'll have to work harder to make paychecks last, so be it! I will risk the respect of my family to follow my Lord.
So, to return to my main point, I realized my family is trying to hold me to the values set by our country, values that do not necessarily coincide with what kind of life Christians are called to live.
Hard work is good - God ordained 6 days of the week for it (Ex. 20:9)! But only when it is done to glorify God by exercising and putting to use the talents God has blessed us with (1 Cor. 12:4-7), not when done to perpetuate selfish desires of wealth.
Honoring family is good - it is commanded of us (Ex. 20:12)! However, we should not value it over service to the Lord (Luke 14:26).
Financial security is good - God says He will provide for us all we need (Matt. 6:25ff), but that "[I]t is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God," (Matt. 19:24).
When these things fall out of line, they pose the danger of becoming our life's focus, instead of the cross. We should make certain that we keep our priorities in check. Earthly things are not meant to satisfy our eternal longings, and no one should influence us otherwise.
SDG
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