It is that time of year once again when some people lose their minds in the feeding frenzy of shopping. Why? Some have an insatiable appetite for spending, and during the holiday season, that ravenous enthusiasm spirals out of control. On the Friday following Thanksgiving, which has become known as Black Friday, fights break out in department stores and malls as civilized people become brute beasts attacking one another over that “must have” bargain priced item.
In many instances, it’s not so much about the buying, but it’s all about the fury of being in overcrowded malls just looking and socializing. A recent news report stated that in some cases, these Black Friday deals are the same price that they were in September! Still some will rack up huge bills and will be struggling to pay those bills throughout 2015! Satan plays that “buy now – pay later” card to the maximum everywhere every year.
Some of us have seen the commercials of the graveyard of gifts stashed in an out-of-the-way closet, in the attic or in the storage shed, never to be seen or mentioned again. These are those “acknowledgment” gifts we did not want and certainly did not need from family and friends. Do we remember what we bought last year or what we received from whom and why?
One friend commented that she hoped her family would remember what they got last year because there would be nothing for them this year. How would that idea “play out” at your house? In recent years, the holiday shopping season has started earlier and earlier. During this writer’s years of growing up, there were no signs of Christmas until after Thanksgiving. Now you can see Christmas items in October. In some places, you can go to a Christmas sale in July!
God has revealed a stark reality to us in 2 Peter 3:10. “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up” (NASB). What is the message? Don’t get too attached to any of life’s trappings; they are all going up in smoke! Our houses, cars, clothes, shoes, jewelry, electronic toys, smart phones, iPads, DVD/video players, flat screen TV’s, sound systems, etc. are all going to be burned up. Do we really believe that?
Solomon was God’s example to the human race about the accumulation of things. Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 says, “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity [grasping for the wind]. When goods increase, they increase who eat them; so what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes?” All we can do with stuff is look at it. The more we get, the more we want. For some of us it doesn’t take long before we become jaded with what we have, and we want something finer, larger or greater.
We sincerely need to listen to what Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 5:15; “As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return, to go as he came; and he shall take nothing from his labor which he may carry away in his hand.” Do we get that irrevocable, eternal truth?
The buying of material things is at an all time high during the holiday season, but this attitude of greed stays with us all year long. We need to understand that materialism is one of the principle gods of this world. Materialism enslaves, harms and ruins. Tragically for too many, their possessions have become their gods. Their home has become a museum; their car is a showpiece; their personal belongings are modeled; and their electronic gadgets keep getting more elaborate, more numerous and more expensive.
In 2 Peter 3:11-12 we are told, “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!” The Creator and Sustainer of everything has made it abundantly clear that the destruction of all things is imminent, and He will be the One to ignite the flame!
Peter asked one of the most thought-provoking questions in the above passage. “What sort of people ought you to be?” Since everything is going up in smoke, what should be at the center of our thinking? Since nothing that we have is going to make it through the fire, what does that leave? Us! The only entity that will survive the end of all things is God’s highest creation! Why? We were all created in the image of God. We were created with a soul – a soul that will live forever in heaven or in hell. Our destiny is dependent upon choosing Him through active obedience or rejecting Him through stubborn rebellion. God gives no choices in-between.
It takes spiritual discipline to keep our minds focused on God and make Him our ultimate choice. The joy, hope and love that He brought to this world through Jesus Christ in His birth, life, death, burial and resurrection is beyond any human’s ability to comprehend appreciably!
What is the bottom line for this holiday season or any season? God did not create us to pursue how much of this world’s goods we could accumulate. How much we paid for them, how much we enjoyed them, how long we had them or how much we doted on them will be totally irrelevant! On Judgment Day, they will all go up in smoke – so, don’t get too attached. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26 NKJV).
