INSANITY? IDOLATRY...or both?
The photo above is very instructive! Frantic shoppers, hepped up from over-eating turkey and stuffing the day before...or maybe even - hours before...have begun their amphibious landing on their favorite store, which has just opened at Midnight on the Friday after Thanksgiving....or in some cases, at 5am.
The little older lady in the middle looks like a running back, about to cut off tackle straight ahead for the Household Goods! A friend of mine just messaged from the busy shopping centers of town, that there had to be about 1000 people trying to get into Best Buy! This is right after yesterday's Thanksgiving celebration and at 12:00am on the dot!
Now, I am not being sanctimonious and talking down about all of this. I did this once before, in the late 1990's when I didn't know any better. But have never done it since and never plan to. The Lord has opened my eyes to all this crazy stuff. The older I get, the more I've come to realize that I do NOT need 88% of this stuff to live! Even better, no running up of credit cards any more, but paying off debt.
On a deeper level, as crowds get more violent and well, plain STUPID, as they trample each other to buy a $59 DVD player, the question must be asked "Would these and millions of others standing for hours in the cold night for a bargain, rush forth to see Jesus like this? Would they run to God with wild anticipation at the Word of God being proclaimed? Would they even run to a special church service like this?
Of course, we know the answer is a resounding NO!
Where your passion resides is where your priority is. More and more, folks who listen to the Spirit of God's instructions, know our hope, happiness and future will not be found in the latest XBOX, ipad or flat screen TV.
More and more, Biblically mature folks are coming to realize the so-called American Dream is not all there is to life. Due to a global economy; massive debt passed on to our children by politicians and more, that "Dream" is fast becoming a nightmare.
More and more, folks are realizing that we really need to focus on the basics of everything from family to food to teaching instead of keeping up with what slick marketing and a corrupt culture tells.
Now some people are not going to like this analogy, but if one has to carry on like the folks in the photo above, this is Idolatry! It is idol worship to pursue "must-have" things more than the Person and Promise of Jesus Christ!
We all would like to have nice things and a 60 inch TV and a boat in the summer and ski trips in February. The thing is, almost all of us cannot do these things...and frankly, if we could, we should think thrice before indulging. In this life, we are called to be Salt and Light in a world, created by a Jesus Who, when He was alive did not even have a place of His own to rest His Head nightly! Even His disciples had their own families and homes - but Jesus had none.
He is the example. Therefore, live humble lives and enjoy all the good things He has given us through our employment etc...but may it never lead us to worship at the Altar of Consumerism we are witnessing today - Black Friday!
MATTHEW 6: 31-34 NKJV
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
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