5 Things Americans Value

I lived in the Middle East for two years. I have traveled to five foreign countries around the globe. I can tell you with firsthand knowledge that people all over the world want to come to America. They see America as a kind of Promise Land. A country where they can escape all of their problems. A country where they can make a better life for themselves and their families.

America is by far one of the best places in the world to live, but the things that have become our basic values are the very things that have moved us so far from God. Based on recent studies, there are 5 things that Americans really value.

1. Entertainment - the average family with an annual income of $55,000 spends over $5000 per year on entertainment or 9% (based on study by the United States Bureau of Labor Statics). Entertainment, is fully a self indulgence. We want to do things that make us happy. It can include participating in sports, watching sports, vacations, purchasing music, attending concerts, cable or satellite television, etc. Adding food and drinks into the mix, or buying clothes, which has become a form of entertainment for many Americans, would increase this amount significantly. Cars are also another form of entertainment for some that has not been factored into this equation, because for most of us they are merely part of our transportational needs. Although, many purchase cars that are well above their needs. This same average family spends more than $8500 or 15.5% per year on transportation.
2. Talking about politics - less than 50% of registered voters actually take the time to vote, yet many of those who failed to vote spend hours each week discussing politics. Political commentaries, radio programs, television shows, and Internet websites and blogs are on the rise, while participation in politics is on the decline. About $4-5 billion will be spent on elections this year and another $2 billion on presidential elections in 2016.
3. Money - it could be said that this is the highest value in our country, but many people indulge in entertainment who really cannot afford it and many of the poorest Americans are extremely vocal about their political views. Money, however, does fuel one of our great values: the American Dream (more about this below). Businesses run our society. Money is what is desired and businesses provide that money. Money is at the root of most of our decisions and determines whether or not we are successful. Even churches have moved toward adopting business models for operating procedures.
4. Food - Americans definitely love their food. We are one of the most obese nations in the world. It could be argued that our eating has become a form of entertainment for us, which could possibly move food in a category even above money. The average family with an annual income of $55,000 spends more than $6400 per year on food and drinks or 11.6%.
5. Religion - depending on where you live in this country, it is possible to drive past dozens of churches within a few short miles. Religion is obviously valued in America with the millions of people who attend worship services or volunteer to help others in the name of their religion. It is also one of the things Americans argue passionately about. Even though religion made it on this list, it is far below the top 4 values of America. A recent Barna Poll on tithing shows how little Americans value their religion. 55% of Americans give $500 or less to their church each year. 20% give between $500-1000. 12% give between $1000 and 2500. 8% give between $2500 and $5000. All of these are below the tithe level (10% of income) for the average family. Only 5% of Americans give more than $5000 per year to their church. The average American gives only 3.4% or $1717 of their $55,000 income to any charitable causes. These numbers are possibly skewed because only 13% of Americans purport to have given anything to charitable causes each year.

Our values show who we are. They tell the world what we see as important to us. The same could be said about our money. We spend most of our money on ourselves. We want to be comfortable, we want to enjoy ourselves, we want what the neighbors have, we want everything we see on TV. After all, it is all promised to us under the American Dream. And the American Dream could be said to be the very thing that fuels the top 4 values listed above, and to some extent even our values on religion.

The American Dream is an ideal that has led to the rise of some of the wealthiest people on the planet. Americans value this as one of the great ideals of our nation even though very few know what it is. The earliest known record of this term explained it this way:

The American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." (The Epic of America p.214-215 written by James Truslow Adams in 1932)

Our Declaration of Independence claimed that each person in this country has certain unalienable rights, including the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As Americans we value the freedom to succeed in life regardless of our starting positions. This ideal, taken at face value, sounds biblical. Work hard, do your best, make use of the talents you have, and you will be rewarded. Many American Christians have bought into this belief.

David Platt, American pastor and author, discusses this very topic in his book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream. David shares that the American Dream and the gospel are actually at odds with each other.

I believe that the gospel and the American Dream have fundamentally different starting points. The American Dream begins with self, exalts self, says you are inherently good and you have in you what it takes to be successful so do all you can, work with everything you have to make much of yourself. 

The gospel’s starting point is completely different. The gospel begins with God, the reality that we were created to exalt his name to the ends of the earth. I am not inherently good. The gospel tells me that I am inherently evil and I need someone else to save me. The self is crucified from the start in the gospel. So from that starting point everything changes. Now it is not what I have in me but about what God provides in me. It is not about my life but the life of Christ. It is not about me making much of myself, it is about me making much of God. 

And from those starting points flow two different trajectories for how life looks, how success looks like, what satisfaction in life looks like. And if we miss the starting point – either self and the American Dream or God and the gospel – then that changes everything from then on out. (Interview with David Platt)

How can our churches return our country to one that values God above all other things? We need Christians who are willing to set aside our own comfort, our own desires, and begin to put the gospel at the forefront of our daily lives. God did not promise us that we would gain wealth and fame if we followed Him. He promised us that we would suffer and face persecution. Are you willing to set aside your American values for the values of God?