God’s Black Friday
On Black Friday 2014 I bought two TV’s. I didn’t mean to buy two, but the website kept crashing and desperate not to miss out on a bargain I accidentally placed the order twice! I wasn’t alone in my bargain hunting as on that one day UK consumers splurged a whopping £810m. Great news for the retailers. Great news too for the credit card and loan companies from whom, in the same month, we borrowed an even more whopping £1.25bn! We live in a society where we take it for granted that we will ‘buy now’ and ‘pay later’, but all too often we ‘buy’ without knowing whether we can really afford to ‘pay’ the debt.
I can’t help but be struck by the contrast with that other Friday that has such prominence in our calendar – Good Friday. That day was God’s Black Friday when he spent big – not a measly £810m but the priceless gift of his only Son; and this divine spending spree didn’t leave God in debt, but rather cleared one that we owed, leaving us free to live a new life that Jesus promised would be one of fullness and would last forever. Forgiveness and eternal life – a free gift? Now that’s what I call a bargain!
