Wrestling With a Monster

     I totally missed it and I survived. I did not enter a single store on Black Friday and lived to tell about it. Black Friday has become an industry in and of itself. It reaches out to grab every possible person it can. It has backed itself up into Thursday – Thanksgiving Day – to increase its piece of the action of people’s lives and pocketbooks. Every store and business – clamoring to get our attention with “an offer you can’t refuse” – appeals to our culture’s materialism. There is this delicate balance between businesses trying to stay alive and people trying to get the best deal they can on things they typically want, but do not necessarily need.

I’m not a very good person to criticize the whole thing. The monster of materialism lurks within me as well. If I “have it”, I will often be tempted to spend it. This year – with college, wedding, and medical bills pressing in – I didn’t “have it”, so ignoring Black Friday (and “Small Business Saturday” and “Cyber-Monday”) was pretty easy to do. I felt bad for the people who lost their jobs because they wouldn’t open stores or businesses on Thanksgiving Day. Some took a stand and suffered for it. More evidence of our culture’s ongoing and growing romance with materialism. So many people’s jobs… their livelihood – depends on people’s greed at Christmas time. Isn’t that ironic? Christmas season spending makes or breaks companies every year. People “need” other people to spend (even wastefully and carelessly) at Christmas in order to be able to pay their bills and provide for their families. It seems like one of those “necessary” evils.

Nowhere is it written in any law or made a requirement for life that I participate. This season is always a valuable time for me to wrestle through the difference between needs and wants. And it’s not just a wrestling match in my conscience. It’s a wrestling match in prayer. “Lord, how do You want me to respond? Give me eyes to clearly see the difference between my needs and my wants. Give me strength to choose wisely. Help me to be a good steward, because all that I gain comes to me from Your hand. It’s Your money that I am spending – or being tempted to spend. I ask for wisdom and care, and I want a hand that is open to others and generous. Keep me from being sucked in by the monster of materialism. Remind me that You – and You always will – meet my needs. Help me to learn contentment and give You thanks. Deliver me from everything in this season that is part of the monster, and let me enjoy You and all You have done for me through Your Son. Lead me to glorify You and not become focused on my wants and help me to be a humble example to my family and to others. You have been so good to me, and I bless Your name…”

Your prayer may be different than mine, but if you ever do wrestle in any way with the monster of materialism – inwardly or with the pressure outwardly from the world – I encourage you to take that “wrestling match” to the Lord in prayer. Tell Him your weak spots. Seek His forgiveness for spiritual failings. Seek to love Him more and to have your affections redirected by His grace. Without prayer, the monster usually wins. But if we go to the Lord, it cannot stand in His presence and it cannot withstand His power.

1 Timothy 6:6-8 (NIV) ⁶  But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Philippians 4:11-13 (NIV) ¹¹  I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹²  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³  I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Proverbs 15:16 (NIV) ¹⁶  Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil.

Hebrews 13:5 (NIV) ⁵  Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

PRAYER:  Lord, thank you that you give us our daily bread. Teach me to want you, and to be satisfied with you and with your will for me. Teach me to be a wise steward of all that you provide for me. Keep me from loving it and wanting it more than I love or want you. Temptation is real. I need you. Thank you. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!

Scott