Read Time: 5 min 25 sec | Reading Level: 7th Grade

ECONOMY

Spending Spree

It was a big Cyber Week for Uncle Sam.

Shoppers were feeling festive, dropping a record $41.1 billion during the five days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. An estimated 197 million people shopped across America… which means each shopper spent an average of $209. The most popular items were toys (as usual) like Legos and Harry Potter figurines, electronics like headphones and game consoles, and appliances like espresso machines.

Walmart and Amazon had record-breaking online sales but were not the only players in town. TikTok Shop is aiming to take on Amazon. It’s attracting sellers with lower fees and drawing in customers through livestream shopping events (the platform might be banned soon, but that's another story).

At the movies, sales also defied gravity. Along with "Glicked" (the ship name of “Wicked” and “Gladiator II,” in theaters at the same time), the new “Moana II” raked in over $100 million more than expected. The trio helped the box office break records with a $420 million Thanksgiving weekend.
 
__

RADIATE HOPE
The Christmas season celebrates an eternity-changing, universe-transforming birth: a Savior for the world. When our culture has its eyes elsewhere, always striving for more, Christians have a chance to be beacons of joy and contentment. When our hope is in Jesus, it can’t be taken away.

“I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:11-13 (CSB) (read full passage)

What do I want to make sure my kids know in light of this story?
Materialism is when we look to the comforts of this world—like stuff, food, or entertainment—for our happiness.

But these material things will always let us down and leave us feeling empty. Chasing after them is like trying to catch a mist or building a house on sand. And they’re not just unreliable sources of joy—Jesus says accumulating things is often at odds with following him (Matthew 19:16-20). Money and possessions and the things of the world have a way of capturing our hearts, and then Jesus is pushed aside because we can’t “serve two masters” (Luke 16:13 CSB).

This Christmas season (and all year long), there’s a constant competition for our attention and our love. As believers, we fight to “not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18 CSB).

How can I model putting my hope and trust in Christ when discussing this story?
One of the best weapons we have against materialism is generosity.

Exercising our generosity muscles loosens our grip on the things of this world (or their grip on us). When we give sacrificially and generously, we train ourselves to trust God for our future and joy. 

Plus, giving means investing in permanent treasure in God’s kingdom that won’t fade away or let us down: “But seek his kingdom, and these things will be provided for you…Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money-bags for yourselves that won’t grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:31-34 CSB).

• Make a plan for what you can give away this season—not just gifts you can buy. Clean out your closet to donate to a shelter, take some money from your piggy bank to give to someone in need, or skip a shopping trip in order to serve a neighbor. When the giving makes you a little uncomfortable, you’re on the right track.

• Memorize 2 Corinthians 4:18, “So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

• Pray for hearts focused on Jesus as the comforts of the world compete for our attention and love.

RECOMMENDED

What We’re Giving
Living water via Forward Edge*

Women and girls in Tamale, Ghana, walk miles daily to get water… but the tiring journey for water, often filled with water-borne bacteria, can bring death instead of life. 

Forward Edge—an international non-profit that serves impoverished communities in Jesus’s name—brings in trucks of safe drinking water every month to get families living in the majority Muslim area through the dry season and to share about the living water Jesus offers them.

A gift of $25 will provide safe, clean drinking water to eight families for a month. Learn more about how Forward Edge is bringing hope and health here.

Advertise with us

*sponsored

WHIPPED CREAM ON TOP

Tough day? It could be worse…