I went shopping the day after Thanksgiving last year. I was an idiot.
I found myself hovering around the electronics department at the most jam-packed
store in the county at 6:00 in the morning. I was waiting for them to dole out
the bargain of the season--some goofy electronic toy-thingy that I didn't even
know how to operate. The real problem was that when they finally did start
rationing out the toys, I couldn't lift a hand to snag one. Both arms were
pinned by the other zombie parents with that look that said "Why am I spending a
vacation day coming here in the middle of the night to save twenty bucks on a
toy I don't even really like?" I decided later I'd pay the twenty extra bucks
not to have to go through that again. Would you believe a lady actually passed
out in the aisle? No kidding! She literally shopped 'til she dropped.
When I was asking my kids what they might like this year for Christmas a few
weeks ago, I started feeling a little like a waitress at a fastfood restaurant.
Even though I determined to work to keep the season from becoming one of those
clown-head Christmases, I found myself fighting the urge to add "Would you like
fries with that?"
But Jesus asks in Matthew 16:26, "What will a man be profited, if he gains the
whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his
soul?"
Working to gain material things at the expense of everything spiritual will end
up with a net gain of zero at the end of life. In the same way, what will it
profit my children or me if we spend all our Christmas energies scrambling for
material things? It can cost us the very heart and soul of Christmas.
The heart of Christmas is the celebration of God becoming man to pay our sin
debt and purchase our eternity. That's the kind of profit we need to focus on
this season. We can do that through staying faithful in reading his Word and in
staying on our knees in prayer. A "shop 'til you drop" season won't bring the
satisfaction that a "stop 'til you drop to you knees" season will. And you can
most likely remain conscious. To say the very least, it's all that and a bag of
fries!
Rhonda Rhea rrhea@juno.com
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