Black Friday is a Trick and Tricks are for Kids

Don’t Be Tricked
I set the alarm clock for 2 a.m. Sure enough 2 a.m. sharp I hear beep beep beep. I shake my husband and ask, “Are you going with me?” He laughs…”heck nooooo! Are you really going?” he says. “Yes!” I say with total excitement, “It’s going be a lot of great sales!” He said “ok, be careful”, and rolled over back to sleep. I stumble out of bed, get my jacket, my purse, my sales papers, and hit the door.
First stop, Walmart, it is as busy as free ticket day for the Super Bowl. I get in there, and just as you’d know it, that great priced TV was gone. People are running around like ants, so I join the party. Wherever people were running, that’s where I went. It was a frenzy. I have been stirred up for this night for weeks by Television ads, Radio promotions, and Newspaper circulars. Did it work? Yep!
Prov 27:20b The eyes of man is never satisfied
That was about 8 years ago. A few years ago, I spent Thanksgiving in Georgia with the In-laws. I went with my Sister-in-law to a mall. We waited outside, in the cold, for hours for boots that were on sale. You may ask yourself why? Well, it’s simple… I just got caught up in the chaos.
Now I’m older (in financial terms) and I’m wiser. I now realize it’s a trick. Its intent is to get me ready to spend, to shop, and to be a part of what retailers deem, a natural part of the holiday season. Spend, Buy, and Purchase, no matter what. The goal is profit.
Black Friday was created in 1966 in Philadelphia by a department store that gave away stamps. Now, this tradition has morphed into an established, clever strategy, riddled with trickery.
Eph 4:14 ISV
Then we will no longer be little children, tossed like waves and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, or by clever strategies that would lead us astray
You’ve got your…..

• Black Friday
• Midnight Madness – start shopping at 12 a.m.
• Cyber Monday – order over the internet
• Thanksgiving Day Sales events – stores open at 6pm, eat and leave home to shop.
• The News is giving you a day by day forecast of Sales projections for Black Friday
• Shop your own community day

It is total pandemonium. You’ve got fights, violence, people being trampled, people using money they don’t have, and cyber credit card crime. All this to get a few discounted items. While its only purpose is to get you in the store to get money out of your pocket.
Stop the Madness!
Here are a few “Stay” Tips:

1. Stay in the black with your credit, do not over spend.
2. Stay within your budget. Get only what you need.
3. Stay prayed up this coming season, what is the Holy Spirit telling you.
4. Stay tuned into how the retailers, the news, and advertisers are “pushing” you to be a part of this crazy Black Friday event.
5. Stay mature in your thinking. If it’s on sale now, it will be on sale later. Think about life after Christmas.
6. Stay at home. If you are a person who gets caught up in doing what others do, don’t go out on Black Friday.

Check your financial maturity level. Are you an infant, kid, teen, or adult? Kids are gullible and lack wisdom, restraint, and understanding. Children want what they see. It’s hard for Kids to take no for an answer. Children just do, go, and get, and worry about the repercussions later. Stay at home, watch the news, and watch all the Children out there playing in money acid.
1 Cor 13:11 New Living Translation
>When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.
​