Retail therapy and Prayer

It’s January, and before the Christmas decorations have barely had time to disappear from the supermarket shelves, Easter buns and chocolate eggs are appearing. It seems that our two main days of Christian celebration are turning into nothing more than a shopping spree for many who may have little or no idea about what they are celebrating. The frenzy of pre-Christmas present buying continues into the frenzy of January post-Christmas/New Year sales. Sometimes the whole exercise, without Christ, can become as hollow as those chocolate eggs.

We have so much stuff that seems so attractive and important, but isn’t. We buy things only to find we need more things, or we wish we hadn’t bought this instead of that; the dilemmas are endless. Still we are not satisfied.

One thing is needed.

Sometimes when people pray, they approach God as a celestial shopkeeper, purveyor of many specialities. Like the earthly shop assistants, most of the time God is in the background, of no special interest. But then something is needed – please God, provide a cure for my illness, You are my only hope. Please God, I need a job. Please God, my finances are in a total mess, could you provide an unexpected windfall? Please God, lead us to a house we can afford. We can go to God with our shopping list, our eyes on the gifts and not the Giver.

Our Lord Jesus provided a format for prayer for His disciples, recorded in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 6, verses 9-13. It is a communal prayer, for “us” rather than “me” and begins by acknowledging and worshipping our Father God. Only one small verse “Give us this day our daily bread” refers to our physical needs, and even this can be symbolic of Jesus, the bread of life, whose broken body is remembered in the bread of communion.

Those of us with children know the joy of giving them things that they want and need, but no parent wants to be approached only for what they provide in material terms. True joy comes in giving and receiving so much more – the love, shared experiences, values, memories, relationship. Our Heavenly Father is exactly the same.

God knows what we need. He’s interested when we talk to him about our health, or job or finances or dreams. But first He draws us to Himself.

One thing is needed.

Mary found it sitting at the feet of Jesus whilst her sister Martha was bustling about with the meal preparations (Luke 10:38-42). Paul found it in a blaze of light on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). A lonely Samaritan woman found it beside a well as she thirsted for something more than water (John 4). Nicodemus searched for it under cover of darkness (John 3).

When we come into relationship with Our Heavenly Father, through repentance and faith in the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ and receive His indwelling Holy Spirit, we have what we most need in this life. He will always be with us. He will never fail or forsake us. He does not always promise an easy, untroubled life, but He promises Himself throughout our lives.

And that is the best thing.