Which of the following are similar to the ways you've served Christ in your family? [check all that apply]
• Taught your kids to see God's glory in nature
• Washed the dishes without being asked
• Played a board game with your kids
• Encouraged your wife to finish her master's degree
• Attended a child's open house at school
• Worked fewer hours to be with your family
• Set an example of a godly prayer life for your children
• Held a crying child
• Swung on the tire swing with your daughter
• Told your wife why you're still in love with her
• Told your son he's got what it takes
• Coached soccer
• Let you child correct you now and then
• Fixed the vacuum cleaner
• Taught your sons to ride a bike
• Listened patiently to a complaint of your wife
• Taped your child's artwork to your office wall
• Admitted to your kids that you were wrong
• Told your children how Christ entered your life
• Cleaned up vomit
• Taught your children to love books
• Been romantic without expecting sex
• Told your daughter she's smart/beautiful
• Set standards for your kids and stuck to them
• Dealt graciously with a busybody neighbor
• Peeled carrots
• Watched movies together
Alternative Shopping Theme of the Week: Credit Worthy? Thursday, November 18, 2004
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Men of IntegrityNovember/December 2004Alternative ShoppingTheme of the Week: Credit Worthy?Thursday, November 1876
Key Bible Verse: "Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be" (Matthew 6:21). Bonus Reading: Matthew 6:19-21, 24-25
Shopping drives me nuts. Pulling into a mall parking lot, a headache starts that sinks from my sinuses right down into my wallet. By the time we enter a store with a banner reading "SALE: No payments until September!" my eyes can hardly focus.
So lately my wife and I have tried "nonshopping." We leave our wallets at home and stroll through a mall counting all the things we don't need. We both enjoy this exercise immensely. It counters the discontent sold us on a daily basis. What freedom! I don't need the silk pajamas or the bright blue car. What I need right now is to hold my wife's hand and repeat these words: "No, we don't have the big-screen TV, but we have what you can't sell. We have each other and the wisdom to know that real satisfaction will never come from things, but from relationships. We have the God-given ability to handle our finances with responsibility, restraint, and respect for the needs of others. We're rich enough to give some money away, and content to set our hearts on things above."
And when we notice that the grass looks pretty green on the other side of the fence, we remind ourselves that their water bill is higher.
—Phil Callaway in Who Put My Life on Fast-Forward?
My Response:Is shopping—for a car, say—a possible snare for me? Why or why not?
Thought to Apply: Money buys everything except love, personality, freedom, immortality, silence, peace.
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