black Friday

by

The Least of These

Get ready to hang on to your hat and open up your wallet, this could be a bumpy ride. 🙂  The Christmas season in America tends to make many people more willing to open up their wallet now than at any other time of the year.  As they do so, it seems everyone would like to find a way to take something out for themselves. 

There simply aren’t enough hours in the day for Black Friday to have the financial impact that some businesses want, so many now begin with what I would call “Gray Thursday” in an attempt to get a jump-start on their efforts to take something out of your wallet.  Not to be left out, small business has laid claim to Small Business Saturday as they seek to keep at least a portion of your Christmas spending local.  I don’t know of any special spending emphasis for Sunday — maybe it is a day of rest for your wallet.  Anyhow, if you have anything left in your wallet — or at least some available credit on your cards — Cyber Monday comes marching in with on-line deals “too good to pass up”.  See, I told you this could be a bumpy ride. 🙂

So, are your credit cards maxed out and your wallet empty yet?  They better not be, because there is another group lined up wanting their piece of whatever financial bounty you may have.  Giving Tuesday is a recent addition to the post-Thanksgiving line-up — this being only its second year of existence as “a movement” but only the first year that I have heard of it.  My first reaction in hearing of this was one of excitement.  I thought someone with a national voice was calling people to live out the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 25, “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'”  I expected it to be a call for each of us to reach out to “the least of these” that surround us in our community and in our daily life.  I was wrong.  The stated goal of the official “Giving Tuesday” movement isn’t really any different from the goal of any of the other post-Thanksgiving “special” days — it just focuses on non-profit organizations rather than the for-profit ones.

I work for a non-profit organization and lead a non-profit prayer ministry so don’t get me wrong, I understand the need for funding and know many such organizations rely heavily on year-end gifts.  I guess I was just hoping for more from a national movement focused on giving.  More than the standard “Give . . . to me”.  I was hoping for a call that left the “to me” out of the request and replaced it with the simple phrase, “to the least of these”. 

I don’t know exactly who “the least of these” are in your life, but I do have an idea of what some of them look like.  Jesus describes them as the hungry, the thirsty, the lonely, the impoverished, the sick, and the prisoners — it is these, and others like them, that Jesus says when we give to them we’ve given to Him.  I pray that as you give of the time, abilities, and resources that God has given you, you would not overlook “the least of these” even as you continue to support the ministries that God has connected you with for the sake of His kingdom and His righteousness.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” 
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,  I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’  They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’  He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’  Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

by

Finding The Perfect Gift

Here in the United States, the Christmas shopping season has arrived.  Yesterday, “black Friday”, was the unofficial start — a day when multitudes of people stand in lines at stores through the night for the chance to find the “perfect gift” at the “perfect price”.  Many times, the rudeness level of America skyrockets on this day as patience grows thin and tempers flare among people striving to obtain satisfaction by finding the ultimate bargain before someone else beats them to it.

I think it would be amazing to follow the life of a few of these perfect gifts over the next year.  I wonder how many of them will bring the life-changing satisfaction that the purchaser anticipates?  How long the joy will remain in the life of the gift recipient?  Will the excitement of something new outlast the credit card debt required to obtain it?  How many lives will be truly transformed because of the perfect gift found for them on “black Friday”? 

I didn’t participate in the shopping frenzy yesterday.  I did make it to the local Menard’s to look at bathroom medicine cabinets, but there wasn’t anything I needed badly enough to make me wait among the crowd of people lined up to check out.  No, my day was spent at home with family — my immediate family and members of the extended family that stopped by throughout the day.  It was a joy to see the little ones playing with a box of old toys.  Nothing fancy in it; just a few cars, a truck, tractor, some blocks, and other “old-fashioned” toys.  Yet even those “simple” toys weren’t necessary as the play turned to the box itself and then to some plastic containers from the cupboard. 

The perfect gift?  It was here!  The peace, joy, and contentment found among family who love one another and have no need to “one-up” anyone.  The pleasure of sharing a meal and the simplicity of spending time together with this family will not lose its luster like the expensive gifts being bought and sold in the stores.  The work that it takes to maintain the relationships is worth the value of the gift that it is. 

As you think about the gifts you want to give and the gifts you want to receive this Christmas, meditate on these words from James 1:16-18:

“Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting  shadows.  He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”

This Christmas season, don’t be deceived by the glitter and sparkle of the advertising industry.  Don’t expect to find the perfect gift on the shelf of any store — it won’t be there.  You may find some nice things, but they won’t be the “good and perfect gifts” that the Father really wants for you to have.  The things you give and receive may complement the true gift, but they will never match it.  It is so easy to be deceived about what we need, what we have to have, what we must give, that we miss the gift of Jesus.  The Father’s choosing to give us birth through the word of truth — through Jesus — is the greatest gift of all. 

May you and I recognize the truth that “every good and perfect gift is from above”.  May we do more than recognize that truth, may we reflect it in the things we do and say.  May we constantly thank God for the good and perfect gifts that only He can provide.  May we keep the things of this world in proper perspective as we acknowledge God’s gift this Christmas season and each day that we live.