The month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is typically viewed as a make it or break it time for retailers, who rely on the holiday season for at least a quarter of their annual sales.  There are only twenty-four hours between Thanksgiving and ThanksgiveUs—Black Friday—the busiest shopping day of the year.  Stores this year opened as early as midnight, offering deeply discounted products in hopes of boosting bottom lines before year’s end.  

However, the short jaunt from giving thanks to getting the goods can be dangerous, even deadly:

A Wal-Mart worker on Long Island, N.Y., died after being trampled by customers who broke through the doors early Friday, and other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man. At least four other people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals.

Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, who is in charge of the investigation for the Nassau County police, called the scene "utter chaos" and said the "crowd was out of control."

Outbreaks weren't restricted to New York. At a Wal-Mart in Columbus, Ohio, Nikki Nicely, 19, jumped onto a man's back and pounded his shoulders when he tried to take a 40-inch Samsung flat-screen TV to which she had laid claim. "That's my TV!" Nicely, 19, shouted. "That's my TV!" (1)

In Romans chapter one, Paul lays out the case for God’s wrath against mankind.  It comes because of two things:  the sin of forgetting God, as evidenced by thanklessness (“they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him”), and the sin of trading in the true, all-powerful God for a mere illusion (“and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images…”).  In other words, when we forget God we worship things instead. And this time of year, they can often be purchased for half-price.

In his excellent book, Counterfeit Gods, Timothy Keller says:

According to the Bible, idolaters do three things with their idols.  They love them, trust them, and (serve) them…’Lovers of money’ are those who find themselves daydreaming and fantasizing about new…possessions to buy, and looking with jealousy on those who have more than they do. ‘“Trusters of money’ feel they have control of their lives and are safe and secure because of their wealth. ‘(Servers) of money...’ look to (things) for… significance and security…and therefore are driven to serve and, essentially, obey them.

We forget that the root of the word possessions is possess.  In the world, what you possess defines who you are. But, in Scripture, what (or who) possesses you defines who you are. 

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” (Luke 6:24) 
 
We find no irony in the fact that the season set aside to celebrate the free gift of God is also the most money-driven.  It is a microcosm of the battle that has raged for the souls of men since the beginning.  What do you love—trust—obey?  What possesses you?  Is it Christmas presents or the Christmas Presence?

I am as guilty as any in racing to find good deals and being preoccupied with checking things off my Christmas list.  But I want to change—and, I imagine, you do as well.  How, then, can we curb our sinful inclination to love things at the expense of God?

First, as Paul points out in Romans chapter one: Give thanks to God.  We get our words gratitude and grateful from the Latin, gratus, which carries the idea of “pleasing, agreeable, or welcome.”  Gratitude, therefore, is the disposition of one who is pleased with or welcomes something.  What pleases you most this season?  Is it a new cell phone or some other gadget?  Is it golf clubs, high-priced shoes, or jewelry?   Or is it the Presence of God in Christ, who lives in those who believe, and who has promised never to leave or forsake us? We have been given in Christ a gift that will never need to be returned, that will never wear out, and that will still “fit” no matter our size. 

Second, tamp down your enthusiasm for things.  We all know the post-Christmas blues:  we get bored with our new stuff; things break; kids cry; and we find ourselves looking online for new deals.   Set aside time this season to study Matthew 6 and other passages where Jesus warns against the mad grab for things.  Remind yourself and your family that things are fun in their right place, but they do not satisfy like Jesus.  And…add this to the top of your Christmas list this year:   

1. “…Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  (Matthew 6:33)