Good morning on this Thanksgiving weekend. Yesterday was Black Friday and as usual people hit the stores in-mass to claim the bargains offered by the various merchants. Black Friday is so designated because it marks the point where some stores get out of the red and into the black after paying all of their year's expenses. This year many stores opened on Thursday evening rather than early on Friday morning. This week's Black Friday shopping experience again brought out the worst in some people. One California woman used pepper spray to attack other shoppers so she could get a bargain Xbox and some of the video games while other shoppers tended to their burning eyes. There was mayhem in one store over shoppers' frenzied attempt to get a $2.00 waffle maker. Some shoppers who were shopping during the midnight shift were mugged in parking lots as they returned to their cars in the dark. Women turned to violence as they punched each other over who would get one of the yoga pants during a store promotion. One man collapsed in a store shortly after midnight and callous shoppers walked around him or stepped over him as he lay dying on the store floor. In previous years people have been killed when they fell to the floor as they were pushed by the frenzied crowd and were literally trampled to death as stampeding eager shoppers stepped on them as they rushed to get to their bargain items. Black Friday has now been extended to include the day after, now called Black Saturday. Cyber Monday concludes the extended shopping weekend. All of this brings to mind a number of Scriptural warnings about an excessive appetite for further goods and food which is often linked to selfishness and lack of self-control. James 4:1-2a says, "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have... You fight and war." Proverbs 15:27a says, "He who is greedy for gain, troubles his own house." Proverbs 28:25 says, "He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered." Jesus added that it is what is within a man's heart that leads to his misdeeds including evil thoughts, covetousness, and foolishness. Galatians 5:23 names self-control as one of the fruits of the Spirit. If all people did their shopping under the influence of the Holy Spirit, these sordid incidents of Black Friday would be no more. Now wouldn't that be a refreshing change which would be pleasing to God and the shoppers who maintain self-control and seek to honor God in all things?
Tomorrow's sermon is another on how to get your prayers answered. I hope you will be there to hear it.
Mel Brown