My American Dream

After watching the presidential debate, I thought about my American dream. What is my American dream? I realized I don’t have an American dream, but rather just....a dream. It doesn’t deal with materialism or power or even social status. My dream is to be in Heaven one day with God who loves me and where no evil exists. But while I’m living in the United States of America, here are three American dreams of mine motivated by what God has told me in the Bible.

DREAMS

1) Matthew 6:19-21

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I love this Bible verse because it tells me to store up treasures in heaven. Thus, I go about my life seeking out joyous experiences and loving relationships, not cars, clothes, or the latest technology. My dream is to live in a nation where people focus on storing up treasures for Heaven and not treasures for their basement.

2) Matthew 8:24-27

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

I don’t want my house to be built on the sand of the United States of America. My dream is to build my house on the rock of a country that acts out Christian principles.

3) Mark 12:30

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

This verse inspires me treat everybody with kindness, compassion, and empathy. My dream is to live in a country where everyone loves God with all their heart and each other as themselves.

The United States of America is a country I am thankful to live in. It gives me freedoms that other people don’t have. I just wish we as Americans would seek out the wisdom of the Bible, whether we believe in God or not. I hope we can store up for ourselves treasures that last, not material goods that wither away. I hope we create policies that motivate us to act out Christian principles. But if anything, I hope that we treat our fellow citizens and non-citizens with respect and love, whether they have a different ethnicity or even a different religion. That’s my American Dream.

-Brody Forbes

John 3:16

Romans 10:9-10

John 15:9-12