I have been unfortunate this year to experience black friday just for a few hours. A friend at work sent me to buy a doll at Wal Mart for my niece none-the-less. At first I told her no, then I decided to go. I thought I was going to go in and out. But to my dismay it didn't work that way. Two minutes in the store, I got bumped twice with shopping cart by two different women. The lines were in every aisles, it was like a zoo in there. Two grown ladies fist fighting over sheets, seriously. That night confirmed my suspicion on black friday. I don't understand how people can go from being thankful on thanksgiving. And later on that night being selfish and consume with greed over stuff. Not to mention some camped for days or hours in line to spend money on things that they will find old the next week. I did buy the doll because I found a friend who let me stand next to her sister in line. However, this was a one time deal for me, never again. Lesson learned.
While I was standing in line I did realized two things. We human being are never fully grateful for what God bless or given to us. We always thinking about what we would like to have, the new updates, we always on the look out for better and bigger things. We let our desires cause us to forget God's gifts of life, food, health, safety, work, family, and friends. Secondly, I thought if I had invited any of those people to church; they would probably find an excuse not to come. And if they come they would constantly checking they watch for time. However, they don't mind spending hours even days in line for deals.
Do you think we have 226 million of people visit church on sundays? But that's how many shoppers visited retailers over the weekend. The total money spent by shoppers over black friday weekend was $52.4 billions dollars. Where is our priorities? Do we placed it on things on earth that we will leave behind when we die; or do we placed it on the things of Christ? The Lord said, it best on Luke 12: 15-21.
"Life is not measured by how much you own." Jesus says to be on guard against greed. I know it's the opposite of what society says. Advertisers spend millions of dollars to entice us to think that if we buy more and more of their products, we will be happier (it's a lie), more fulfilled (it's a bigger lie), more comfortable (even a bigger lie). So, you ask, how do we respond to the constant pressure to buy? The answer: we need to learn to tune out those enticements ads and concentrate instead on the truly fulfilled life— living in a relationship with God and doing his work.
