Our daughter and her family were here for a few days for the Thanksgiving holiday so I took a few days off from blogging and writing to just enjoy them. I'm old-fashioned enough to still believe that Thanksgiving is an important holiday and is a day for families to spend time with one another reflecting on the many ways they have been blessed throughout the year. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving was over-shadowed this year by the Black Friday shopping that many retail stores started Thursday evening. I really appreciate those few large retailers who decided it was more important for their employees to enjoy the holidays with their families than open their stores, and we will be doing much of our Christmas shopping in those stores this year as a way to thank them for the kindness they showed their employees.
As usual, we saw on the news the reports of shootings, stabbings, and fights breaking out in stores across the country as people fought with one another for the items being offered for sale. It seems ironic that on a day that was set aside as a day of being thankful for what we have has become a day when corporate and personal greed rears its ugliest head of the year. Rather than being a day of thanksgiving it has become a day of thingsgetting.
It is really a reflection of one of the biggest problems in our nation today, a lack of gratitude and thankfulness. The apostle Paul said he had learned to be content regardless of what was going on in his life (Phil. 4:11). That is a lesson that many Americans need to learn today, but two things make it very difficult for that lesson to be learned. We are continually exposed to advertising that is designed to make us discontented. Advertisers bombard us with the idea that we must have the newest, shiniest, most advanced gadget or our lives will be ruined. The cell phone you purchased new six months ago simply isn't good enough so you must run out, stand in line for hours, to get a new one that will be replaced by the manufacturer in another six months. Of course, it's not just cell phones. It's our television sets, our cars, our kitchen appliances, our clothing, and everything else we own. We are told that unless we rush out to get the latest and greatest we are failures, and we buy into it!
The second thing that makes it difficult for us to be content is the entitlement mentality that is so rampant in America. Not only do we need these things to be fulfilled, we are entitled to them, so if we can't afford them we have the right to go deeper into debt to buy them or the right to steal them from someone who could afford to buy them. After all, we DESERVE these things that will provide us happiness. If a store offers what we want at a reduced price we have the right to fight another shopper to make sure we get what we want because we are entitled to have that thing.
It would be one thing if these were just problems that afflicted non-Christians, but, of course, we know that isn't true. As a judicatory leader I hear from plenty of church members and pastors who are not content. The church members often want their churches to grow without changing anything, and too many pastors are always looking for the next place to serve. However, this is a topic for another blog on another day!
What can Christians do to make Thanksgiving a day of true Thanksgiving? How about if we just stop going to the malls and stores on Thanksgiving Day. The reason the workers are forced to be away from their families on Thanksgiving is because people are willing to shop on that day. Let's tell the retail stores that their employees need to be with their families on Thanksgiving, and we'll be in over the weekend to see what specials they're running. Of course, they won't listen; we'll have to show them by our refusal to participate in their Thursday madness. Will we miss out on some hot bargains? Yes, we might not get that super-special item for only $29.95 that regularly sells for $49.95, but that's a small price to pay to enjoy the holiday with our family and to help others spend the day with their families.
As pastors we need to be preaching on contentment. I once preached from the passage I quoted above, and that day one of our church members told me it really got her to thinking about what a life of contentment might look like. Our churches need to hear this message because they sure won't hear it from any other source. Let's challenge the discontent and entitlement mentality that is so strong in our nation today and encourage people to become more grateful for the blessings they already have.
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