The Black Friday Dilemma
The term “Black Friday” was first used by Philadelphia police in the 1950s to describe the chaotic crowds and traffic that flooded the city the day after Thanksgiving, as shoppers and tourists arrived for the big Army–Navy football game that weekend.
By the 1980s, stores nationwide were using Black Friday to mark the start of the holiday shopping season with steep discounts on major retail items. Around that time, sellers put a more positive spin on the name — saying it referred to the day when businesses went from being “in the red” (losing money) to “in the black” (profitable).
Along Came Cyber Monday
As e-commerce began to grow in the late 1990s, major retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart started extending their Black Friday sales online. By the mid-2000s, shopping deals had outgrown their 24-hour time constraint, and Black Friday morphed from a single day into a full-blown weekend extravaganza, often starting on Thanksgiving night or even earlier.
The term “Cyber Monday” was coined by the National Retail Federation to encourage online shopping on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday has now become the biggest online shopping day of the year, often with sitewide discounts, free shipping, and hard-to-pass-up tech deals.
Subverting the Thanksgiving Message?
Today, consumer preoccupation with Black Friday and Cyber Monday has all but eclipsed the holiday that they bookend. And ironically, these mega-retail events subvert Thanksgiving’s core message: being grateful and content with what we already have.
Don’t get me wrong. We all love a good sale. And if you’re already in the market for a new appliance or computer to replace one that may be on its last legs—or doing some intentional Christmas gift buying—capitalizing on Black Friday and Cyber Monday can be an act of wise stewardship. But if the deals offered by these events lure us into purchasing something we never intended to buy or really don’t need, they undermine our efforts to use the money that’s been entrusted to us in ways that honor the One who entrusted it in the first place.
Differing Perspectives
My wife and I have different approaches to shopping. She tends to ignore sales unless there’s a legitimate need for the sale items. I, on the other hand, capitalize on sales to “stock up” on things I know we will eventually use. Last week, for instance, I bought 5 cans of our favorite brand of soup—each of which was $1 off the regular price—even though I knew we still had 6 cans at home. My reasoning was that we would, in the long run, save $5 and, with the winter months approaching, we would go through plenty of soup. When I got home, my wife looked in the bag and asked, “Why did you buy more soup? We already have 6 cans!” Her reasoning was that we shouldn’t cram our already-congested pantry space with items we don’t immediately need. So, which one of us is the better steward?
I realize that stewardship is not a competitive sport, so I don’t expect you to cast your vote. You may even have similar differences in perspective in your own home. And, if I’m completely honest, I would likely cast my vote for my wife, realizing that God doesn’t really intend for us to store up months’ worth of daily provisions. After all, He didn’t airdrop 4 weeks’ worth of manna to the Israelites every month during their 40 years in the wilderness. He wanted to instill in them a daily dependence on His provision, no matter how bleak the outlook or how great the temptation to squirrel some away just in case.
Covetousness vs. Contentment
I admit to having fallen prey to the allure of Black Friday or Cyber Monday—especially since both in-store and online retailers have done such a thorough job marketing these events. In the weeks—even months—leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it’s rare that I don’t open my morning email or log on to a news outlet to be bombarded with great deals on specific items that would be really cool to have: everything from personal soft-serve ice-cream makers to flat-screen TVs that might be slightly bigger or brighter than the more-than-adequate one currently hanging on my living room wall.
Our American culture certainly works against us in resisting the allure. We are conditioned to seek comfort, convenience, and luxury. We have an unobscured view of what those around us are accumulating and often fall into the sin of coveting, which Scripture puts right up there with adultery, murder, stealing, and bearing false witness:
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” - Exodus 20:17
Sorry to have gone there, but it’s a sin most of us admittedly tend to overlook or minimize.
Finding Balance: Enjoying God’s Blessings with a Posture of Gratitude
It’s also important to recognize that it’s okay to have nice things. God wants to bless us with not only what we need but also with some of the things we want. He longs to delight us as we delight in Him. But when our happiness becomes contingent on being an early adopter of the next generation of tech, filling our closets with the latest in seasonal fashion, or booking the next exotic beach escape, we forfeit our contentment, which satisfies far beyond anything we can possibly acquire. Gratitude for God’s blessings and contentment with what we have are the antidotes.
Faith & Finance Perspective
In answering the question, How much is enough?, Ron Blue responds, “For years, I tended to treat that as a financial number. But, as Hebrews 13:5 instructs us, Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ And all of a sudden, I realized that the answer to “How much is enough?” is “What I have right now.” That’s what gives me contentment. And if I'm content with what I have right now, more stuff will not bring me more contentment.”
. . . for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. - Hebrews 4:11-12
