7 Ways for Christians to Make the Most of Black Friday

Jon Bloom opines that “braving the overcrowded stores and long lines in order to take advantage of sales that enable you to be more generous with others [...] is a great reason to shop on Black Friday.” Jesus taught us to be generous, and though we cannot afford much ourselves, a really great sale price incentivizes giving.

There will never be a time in this mortal world when everyone has enough to eat. Christ said, “The poor you will always have with you.” (Matthew 26:11) All of that will change when we are with the Lord for eternity, but right now, our neighbors are hurting, and it is our responsibility to help relieve that pain where we can. “Whoever gives to the poor will not want.” (Proverbs 28:27)

Black Friday makes more of our own limited resources so we can gather the ingredients for helpful hampers. Learn about what your recipients need, which is a sign of love in its own right. Everyone wants to be seen, heard, and known. Find out about allergies, likes, and dislikes. Try to be both practical and personal. If you cannot gather support among friends, lots of family centers invite people to “adopt” a child, providing age and gender with suggestions for appropriate gifts.

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Black Friday makes it possible to use a small amount of money to buy gifts that are meaningful and useful. While recipients need to appreciate the giver’s motives and generosity when they receive seemingly useless, cheap things, if the giver can be persuaded to save his or her money and do something useful, that is far better.

In place of $3 ornaments for each of her grandkids, grandma can afford to combine those funds to buy them all a new board game or puzzle they can enjoy together - an item costing anything from $20 to $60 at regular price. Imagine finding Black Friday deals on everyday items like coffee, tea, or toilet paper. Why not wrap these up? In the world of parenting, practical items like these often mean more than ornaments and plants.

Another way to look at it is that whatever you save purchasing things you need anyway can be put towards a gift, whether it is in the sales or not. For example, use what you saved to send soccer balls and mosquito nets to a foreign country. Even consider making your donation in the name of someone you want to lavish with love, but who would appreciate this kind of gesture more.

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Donated furniture helps lots of struggling families, but it is not always suitable. Donated mattresses are often stained, moldy, and lumpy. Retirees are frequently downsizing and they give generously, but their old furniture was designed for a large home with several rooms, not for a tiny rented space filled with a big family.

Furniture is one of those big-ticket purchases that churches can obtain in the Black Friday sales, even when only a handful of congregants pitch in twenty dollars each. Where you could buy a mattress any other day of the year, you can purchase a mattress and bedding, maybe even a lamp: your money goes a lot further.

Bless a refugee family, a young couple, for a person fleeing abuse with the dignity and comfort of sleeping on a real bed and sitting on a real chair. As Jon Bloom says, “Those of us in the West likely don’t need gifts. But loving generosity is a beautiful thing, and God loves it if it is fueled by faith.”

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Before you leave the house with your wallet, ask yourself why you are buying anything at all. Get down on your knees and pray to the Father, asking, “Why do I think I need this?” or “Why do I think they want this?” Be intentional about gift giving and about personal purchases rather than being sucked in by the word “sale.”

Now is a good time to address the motives behind shopping habits, both now and throughout the year. Bloom suggests that “if you struggle with compulsive buying, or malls stir up sinful covetousness, or you know that you don’t have the patience to show Jesus well in the shopping frenzy, stay home.”

According to Arash Emamzadeh, “compulsive shopping is associated with distress, financial difficulties, reduced quality of life, and family and marital problems.” Christians battle with addictions, too, including behavioral addictions such as using retail therapy to deal with anxiety and depression. But this makes mental health even worse by feeding the problem, leading to debt and further stress.

Ask God to give you self-control. Ask him to bring interruptions into your day. Ask him for the strength to enlist help from good friends who will keep you occupied while you battle the urge to press that “buy now” button. Make the most of this opportunity to build spiritual discipline and lean into the church body, growing spiritually as you recognize how much you need Jesus. “His strength is made perfect in our weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

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Maybe you have lacked serious motivation for sorting your closets and drawers, your toolbox, and your garage. Yet, a significant amount of what you own is unwanted, unused, or even useless. You need to spend a rainy Saturday sorting stuff for the thrift store, the dump, and the recycling center so you can find room to bring home a truly useful sale item - but the task overwhelms you.

Paul says that all things should be done “decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40), and although he had spiritual matters in mind, there is something emotionally freeing about being organized and orderly. This contributes in a more general way to one of our objectives as Christians, which is to be reasonable before the world. (Philippians 4:5)

A home jam-packed with “stuff” is suggestive of compulsion, addiction, and attachment to earthly things. If this is where your treasure is, how do you make room for your Savior? Unbelieving onlookers want to know if you really DO love him more than your stuff. Clearing the house can be painful, but this is a chance to grow in confidence that Jesus truly is all-in-all and to make Black Friday a part of your testimony.

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But we need people to help us get past our reliance on possessions to provide a sense of material security. You and your friends are co-warriors in a spiritual battle against the enemy outside and the enemy inside the gates. We need sympathetic but also reasonable, decisive helpers. “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17). A fresh perspective guides us back to the Lord, to awareness of his perfect provision and sufficiency.

Sorting is a daunting task, and even if we are revved up to start with, it is not uncommon to lose momentum. Friends help you stay focused and ask good questions like “If you lost that in a fire, would you miss it?” “When was the last time you even looked at that picture?” Several hands make the work go faster and more enjoyable.

While you are decluttering, you are also developing spiritual disciplines. One is to operate as a body, helping one another. The other is to let go of “things.” We might be afraid to let go, but that is a sign that we are not trusting God to ensure we will be okay and that he will provide what we need when we need it. “And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.” (Psalm 9:10)

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A line-up of shoppers waiting and even sleeping outside their favorite store on a cold night provides an obvious audience. Use this to your advantage and share the gospel with someone. There are both subtle and overt ways to go about this, although subtle can lead to an outright declaration if you are patient and a good listener.

Organize a team to meet shoppers with hot drinks, food, hats, mittens, blankets, and disposable hand-and-feet warmers. Invariably, someone forgets to dress for the weather or comes without adequate food. Even patrol overnight to ensure people are safe. This is one way to declare the gospel without shoving it down anyone’s throat.

You can, of course, take advantage of retail captivity to go from person to person talking about Jesus bluntly. But remember that tensions are already high; shoppers are vulnerable: you could be poking a few grumpy bears along the way, creating trouble for everyone. Be sensible and sensitive.

Consider committing, instead, to just talking with and listening to people who are tired and bored, maybe even nervous that someone will rob or harm them in their sleep. Bringing a kind and generous distraction will prompt someone to ask, “Why are you doing this?” Now is your chance. Joni Eareckson Tada explained: “Sometimes I see myself as twelve scoops of dark-roasted coffee through which God’s grace drips, bringing the rich taste of Jesus into the lives of others. Like the aromatic flavor of a good coffee, I want my life in Jesus Christ to captivate everyone I touch. I want to cultivate in them a taste for Jesus.” That cup of coffee you offer someone could be so much more.

Jesus warned, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15). Beware a longing: to fill every drawer to possess the latest version of all technology and the newest games for your PC. But also beware not to judge others too harshly when they take advantage of this retail holiday. Everyone has his or her own motive for taking part, and some of those motives really do point heavenward.

Sources: https://www.guidelines.org/sermons/a-fragrant-faith-how-your-life-can-draw-others-to-jesus/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-new-home/202206/compulsive-shopping-guide-causes-and-treatment?msockid=1a00f50fc17f6af80546e020c0c56bdd
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/when-black-friday-becomes-a-mission
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This article originally appeared on Christianity.com. For more faith-building resources, visit Christianity.com.