The next headline over however was less news and more, what we always referred to as fluff pieces. I believe the technical term is human interest. The Holocaust jacket was borderline, but the story had some historical significance and and there were actual newsworthy moments. But This Year's Best Black Friday Tech Deals is not news. It's free advertising for companies that pay the bills and a way to get people to click the link which, in addition to the information they're after, of course, will expose them to more advertising. It's human interest, and they probably will get many hits, although they didn't get mine.
Since the first time that we stuck our tiny thumbs in our mouths as babies trying to satisfy our hunger, we've spent our lives trying to fill the empty spaces and ease the misery in our lives. But we instinctively learned and were taught by adults, who have been trying to satisfy their own needs or have them satisfied from the time they also were babies, that when we can't have what we need or what we want, we should be and can be pacified by something that is counterfeit but close. That's why we call a baby's breast/bottle substitute a pacifier. They want the comfort and satisfaction and nourishment of Mother, we stick a plastic nipple in their mouth that gives them nothing but a close approximation of the feel of what they are really longing for.
So much of what we try to fill our lives with is just another pacifier. We are looking and longing for the love, peace, joy, comfort, satisfaction and nourishment that can only come through relationship with Daddy, but we try to trick ourselves with counterfeits. Sex and approval from others take the place of love. Escape and oblivion take the place of peace. Momentary happiness and distraction take the place of joy. We seek comfort in people, in sensation satisfaction and more rather than the Spirit who is called The Comforter. And we look to nourish our souls with anything and everything from chocolate cake to catching a bargain to cocaine.
It's good to give gifts, and sales are nice when you're broke like me. But they are advertising for things that people will literally fight others over to spend money they don't have to please themselves and others with on something that will break, become obsolete and fade away. Whatever that article was about is not going to be the best deal for everyone, because no matter how many of whatever tech deal they are selling they have, it's not enough to go around. Plus a new and better version will probably be out by Valentine's Day. They were supposed to be tech deals after all. I love giving gifts, and getting them. I like sales. I'm not saying don't shop or don't shop on Black Friday.
What I am saying is that we all have times when we try to meet the needs in our lives with something that is incapable of doing more than tricking us into temporary satisfaction and comfort. It will pacify. But end the end there is no nourishment, nothing real that lasts or feeds and the satisfaction and comfort fade or fail as something within lets us know that this isn't quite what we were looking for. There is something that will satisfy, and nourish, and comfort and bring love, peace and joy. It's not going to fall short. It's not a pacifier. It's the real thing, and it's the greatest deal mankind will ever receive.
We can have life, freedom, joy, peace, love and everything else that comes through relationship with our Creator without having to earn it, deserve it, or pay it off. All our spiritual debts have been paid by Jesus. All the resource and power that we need to be who and how we were made to be is available to us through Him. Everything we need to live and breathe and be is given freely to those who say yes to the call to come. And there is enough for everyone.
So yes, let us try to find that perfect thing to give to those we love, and to do so at the best deal possible. But let us also remember that what we need and what those we love need is the freedom that comes from Christ and the transforming power of the love of God in our lives, and that deal is the only one that truly matters. The deal of a lifetime, the deal that brings life, the event that caused good to triumph over evil is freely available to us all and happened on a Friday around 2000 years ago when the sky went black as the Son gave His life out of love for us.
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