First or Last

With the turning of the page from October to November, we officially/unofficially enter the Christmas season, particularly the Christmas shopping season, with a brief pause for Thanksgiving and by brief I mean until about 6 o’clock that night which is when the, “doorbusters,” begin in such family friendly stores as Walmart, Target, etc.

I’m constantly intrigued by the story behind the story. I used to love listening to Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story whenever it would air over AM radio. Consequently, I’m curious about things like when the concept of Black Friday began. If you would have asked me yesterday, I’d have sworn that the day after Thanksgiving is called what it is on account of that being the day when retailers hope their revenues for the year transition from, “red,” to, “black,” i.e. when they begin to make a profit.

But yay internet for scratching my info itch. Black Friday was a term first used in the Philadelphia area in 1961 to describe the hellish amount of traffic caused by people using their day off to get a head start on their Christmas shopping. Black didn’t mean profit. It meant dark like a storm cloud. It wasn’t an incentive to get you out of the house. It was a warning to encourage you to stay home. I find that hilarious.

But wait there’s more. These days we aren’t supposed to notice Black Friday only. The whole extended weekend’s received a label. Saturday is now Small Business Saturday. The meaning of that should be self-explanatory: spend Saturday patronizing your local small businesses. Sunday’s just Sunday because, I don’t know, we lack creativity or something, but Monday is now Cyber Monday (shop online) and Tuesday is Giving Tuesday. Slightly exhausting but at least we’ve found a way to pass the time on this slow march towards death.

What intrigues me about all this, what makes me want to Anchorman up and get everyone’s attention so that we collectively stop what we’re doing and acknowledge this reality is where we’ve placed Giving Tuesday and what that says about who we are and what we believe.

Again, it should be self-explanatory but Giving Tuesday is when we’re supposed to contribute to charity. It’s noble. It’s honorable. It’s great that we’ve been prompted as a society to think of all those who are less fortunate than we are.

As long as the unfortunate understand their place.

Ok, maybe this part isn’t self-explanatory. We don’t think of giving first. We’re supposed to think of it last. We’re supposed to make sure that major retailers, small businesses, and online stores get theirs first before the hungry or the homeless or the ministries to teen moms or refugees or, “insert really worthy cause here.” Giving’s great as long as we know it’s place.

We do this all the time. Daylight Savings Time occurs over Saturday into Sunday because we can’t disrupt the economy of Monday or even Saturday but Sunday’s ok. It’s really not a big deal if church gets short changed.

Why weren’t you at youth group Timmy? I had basketball practice. Hmm. Why wasn’t it the other way around? Why didn’t Timmy miss basketball and give youth group as the reason? Because that’s not how we spend our time. That’s not how we’ve ordered our priorities and it’s exactly the opposite of the life the Bible calls us to live.

How do I know that? Do a simple word search on the term, “first fruits.” We’re supposed to give off the top not the bottom and if you’re wondering what this has to do with shopping, it’s because generosity itself exists because we’re spiritual people. It’s not a sociological concept. The desire resides within us because God is real and we’re made in His image.

The Lord is meant to come first not last. Our pursuit of Him should start our day not find its place in whatever happens to be left. The fact that we’ve placed Giving Tuesday at the end of our money usage train is an extension of our penchant to want the throne rather than yield it to Him. We have a word for that…

Idolatry.

The impact on satisfaction is direct. If we come first, it’s a race for fulfillment whose finish line can never be reached. If Jesus does, we discover the race never needed to be run to begin with.

How then should we live? Give to God first. Whatever you give of your money? Do it at the beginning of the month not the end. Don’t open your Bible at the end of your day. Do it at the beginning. Make church a priority as opposed to the one thing that’s expendable in your schedule. Not because God’s going to hate you if you don’t but because you’re already more loved than you can ever imagine.