As I write this blog post, we are being told that Americans are going all out for Christmas this year. Apparently, consumer confidence is up since the election; and store receipts are showing it. Multiple agencies project that this Christmas shopping season may see records set for spending.
Already, we are told that Black Friday 2024 was the biggest ever by online sales volume, reaching $10.8 billion. This marks a 10.2% or $1 billion increase over last year. And Cyber Monday did not disappoint either, with receipts topping $13.20 billion, up 6.5% or $800 million from the previous year. Obviously, both days reflect record shattering numbers!
I’m all for that. After all, who wouldn’t be? It is good to see the economy humming again. But with that being said, it will still always be important to keep the material component of Christmas in its proper perspective.
To that end, I thought I would share a brief story Tony Cooke once told. It seems that…
A store owner was doing some last minute Christmas shopping with his young son when he saw another store owner with whom he had been friends for some time. The two of them exchanged greetings and spoke with each other about what a financially profitable season it had been for their respective stores. The small boy overheard his father say, “This has been the best Christmas ever.”
As the store owners parted company, the father and son continued their shopping, but the father noticed his son had become very quiet. He inquired as to his son’s silence, and his son replied, “Dad, you just told Mr. Johnson that this was the best Christmas ever.”
His dad replied, “I did, son. The economy is great, and people are really spending.”
“O.K.” the son replied, “It’s just that I always thought the first Christmas was the best one.”
Little wonder that folks often say, “Out of the mouth of babes!” The young lad in the story was right! For that first Christmas saw the most costly and most cherished gift ever given – the Son of God given by the Heavenly Father to all men and women! And why was this precious gift given?
As John tells us in his New Testament Gospel (chapter 3, verses 16-18):
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Have you embraced God’s Great Gift? Have you accepted His Son? If so, my friend, then you can appreciate why that very first Christmas truly was the best one ever!
ILLUSTRATION SOURCE:
https://tonycooke.org/holiday-resources/christmas_illustrations/.
SALES SOURCE:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/will-black-friday-2024-be-the-biggest-ever-holiday-shopping-by-year/ar-AA1uSKEl.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE:
https://biblehub.com/niv/john/3.htm.
Already, we are told that Black Friday 2024 was the biggest ever by online sales volume, reaching $10.8 billion. This marks a 10.2% or $1 billion increase over last year. And Cyber Monday did not disappoint either, with receipts topping $13.20 billion, up 6.5% or $800 million from the previous year. Obviously, both days reflect record shattering numbers!
I’m all for that. After all, who wouldn’t be? It is good to see the economy humming again. But with that being said, it will still always be important to keep the material component of Christmas in its proper perspective.
To that end, I thought I would share a brief story Tony Cooke once told. It seems that…
A store owner was doing some last minute Christmas shopping with his young son when he saw another store owner with whom he had been friends for some time. The two of them exchanged greetings and spoke with each other about what a financially profitable season it had been for their respective stores. The small boy overheard his father say, “This has been the best Christmas ever.”
As the store owners parted company, the father and son continued their shopping, but the father noticed his son had become very quiet. He inquired as to his son’s silence, and his son replied, “Dad, you just told Mr. Johnson that this was the best Christmas ever.”
His dad replied, “I did, son. The economy is great, and people are really spending.”
“O.K.” the son replied, “It’s just that I always thought the first Christmas was the best one.”
Little wonder that folks often say, “Out of the mouth of babes!” The young lad in the story was right! For that first Christmas saw the most costly and most cherished gift ever given – the Son of God given by the Heavenly Father to all men and women! And why was this precious gift given?
As John tells us in his New Testament Gospel (chapter 3, verses 16-18):
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Have you embraced God’s Great Gift? Have you accepted His Son? If so, my friend, then you can appreciate why that very first Christmas truly was the best one ever!
ILLUSTRATION SOURCE:
https://tonycooke.org/holiday-resources/christmas_illustrations/.
SALES SOURCE:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/will-black-friday-2024-be-the-biggest-ever-holiday-shopping-by-year/ar-AA1uSKEl.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE:
https://biblehub.com/niv/john/3.htm.