May I Take Your Order, Please?
I went shopping the day after Thanksgiving
last year. I was an idiot.
I found myself hovering around the
electronics department at the most jam-packed store in the county at 6 in the
morning. I was waiting for them to dole
out the bargain of the season—some goofy electronic toy-thingy that I didn’t
even know how to operate. The real
problem was that when they finally did start rationing out the toys, I couldn’t
lift a hand to snag one. Both arms were
pinned by the other zombie parents with that look that said “Why am I spending
a vacation day coming here in the middle of the night to save twenty bucks on a
toy I don’t even really like?” I decided
later I’d pay the twenty extra bucks not to have to go through that again. Would you believe a lady actually passed out
in the aisle? No kidding! She literally shopped ‘til she dropped.
When I was asking my kids what they might
like this year for Christmas a few weeks ago, I started feeling a little like a
waitress at a fast food restaurant. Even
though I determined to work to keep the season from becoming one of those
clown-head Christmases, I found myself fighting the urge to add “Would you like
fries with that?”
But Jesus asks in Matthew 16:26, “What will a man be profited,
if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in
exchange for his soul?”
Working to gain material things at the
expense of everything spiritual will end up with a net gain of zero at the end
of life. In the same way, what will it
profit my children or me if we spend all our Christmas energies scrambling for
material things? It can cost us the very
heart and soul of Christmas.
The heart of Christmas is the celebration of
God becoming man to pay our sin debt and purchase our eternity. That’s the kind of profit we need to focus on
this season. We can do that through
staying faithful in reading His Word and in staying on our knees in prayer.
A “shop ‘til you drop” season won’t bring the satisfaction that a “stop
‘til you drop to your knees” season will.
And you can most likely remain conscious.
To say the very least, it’s all that and a bag of fries!
Rhonda Rhea is a radio personality and a conference
speaker for events all over the country. She is the wife of First Baptist
Church of Troy, Missouri’s pastor, Richie Rhea,
and mother of five teenagers. She has authored several fun and fruitful books,
including the new release I’m Dreaming of Some White Chocolate. Watch for High Heels in High Places coming in 2007. Find out more at www.RhondaRhea.net.
For speaking information, visit www.FindRhonda.com.
