Black Friday Zombies

Today I watched some footage of past Black Friday’s and saw the hordes of people stampeding, lurching forward through gates and storefront doors, breaking down barriers, knocking over each other and trampling women and children. Surging forward like one giant being, like a mob of mindless zombies  frothing at the mouth with an insatiable blood-lust, chewing on the rotten corpses of the latest in electronic technology and toys.

Black Friday.  

Aptly named isn’t it?

For does any other day of the year reveal what truly grips the hearts of Americans and Canadians?  Perhaps boxing day…but I digress.

It is Gripped by thier possessions…  their luxury items.  By the biggest, best, latest toys.

And the church is not immune.  Oh perhaps most of us are not lining up at midnight to crash the doors…but…what about that latest gadget or toy?  Do we need that PS4 or Xbox1 or that new TV?  That RV?  That truck?  The fastest computer?  The best rod and reel?  The flashiest suit or dress?

Where is my heart?

In my things?

Do I sacrifice my life on the alter of materialism?  Or do I live a life of sacrifice, in praise and thankfulness for what really matters?

My Christian brothers and sisters, as we line up to get the best deals, or as we go and buy the latest that our western society has to offer…take a moment to think about those Christians who are persecuted in other lands, like North Korea, China, Southwest Asia…who would give up everything for a scrap of the Bible, or to see their pastor released from prison, or to get their families back…

Now let’s get some Biblical perspective.  Our Lord teaches us in Luke 12:15 that a person’s “life is not in the abundance of the things which he possesses,” and in Matthew 6:33 he says we are to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” If things satisfied, if money created contentment,  Solomon would have been the happiest most contented man that ever lived.  He had absolutely everything and had more of everything than anyone, and yet it was all meaningless.  Solomon came to the conclusion that we are to “fear God, and keep His commandments. For this is the whole duty of man.”

This was not lost on the Westminster divines as they crafted the Westminster Catechism.  The first question asks… “What is the chief and highest end of man?” and the answer is “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.”

We find joy in Him.  In glorifying Him.  Not in our stuff.  Not in getting the best deals.  Not in behaving like bloodlusting zombies chewing on the rotten corpses of the latest in electronic technology.

Let’s pray that the Holy Spirit would work in our hearts so that we would be more and more conformed to the likeness of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and that we would find Him all satisfying on this Black Friday, and all the days of our life.