Is The Pursuit of Happyness really part of the American dream?

I went and saw the new Will Smith movie last night called “The Pursuit of Happyness” .
It’s a great story about a man, played by Smith, who is part of the working poor in America. He is a salesman trying to sell an overpriced piece of medical equipment. Things are not going well and his wife decides she can do better without him, waiting tables in New York. That leaves Smith with his son (played by his real life son, Jayde) trying to make ends meet. Soon he loses his home, his car, his possessions. Things get so bad that the two have no place to sleep but in the subway station bathroom.

Smith applies for a stock brokerage internship program with Dean Witter. During the six month program of cold calls and sleazy brokerage tricks, Smith must hide the fact that he is living in shelters and on the street, bringing his worldly possessions with him to work every day in a beat up suitcase.

In the end ….. well, I won’t give it all away. The film was a good piece of drama and story-telling, without lazy curse words and violence. It was gritty without being offensive. It’s nice to see a PG film. In the final analysis, I believe it was a great, feel good story about overcoming adversity. After all, this is a story about the American dream, that anybody can become anything, right?

But I left the theater not with wet eyes but a heavy heart. The film should have called “The Pursuit Of Money.” It seemed that there was no distinction between happiness and money. The two were joined. Smith was not happy in his lot in life until he had ‘achieved something.’

And this is precisely what is wrong with America today. We are pursuing happiness through money which is gained through our work. That’s why we see people doing ugly things to get promoted, to get ahead. That’s why the meanest and ugliest rats win the race. That’s why we have corruption and greed and shenanigans going on in business.

Jesus calls us to a different kind of pursuit. Happiness, although thrown into the Bill of Rights by Thomas Jefferson, is not really a Christian imperative. We act like it is – using it as an excuse to leave a spouse, to buy unnecessary possessions, to gorge ourselves at the buffet line of life. The Bible calls us to something deeper – joy.

Joy is found not in pampering our soul, but pleasing our Creator. God isn’t impressed with our money, with our titles, with our fame. He looks at our heart, at our character, at our souls. The pursuit of happiness is trumped by the quest for joy. Even at work.

“Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.”
1 Timothy 6:6-8