Preparing Our Hearts for Easter: Day 26 – Spend Nothing Day

An article by Frank    No Comments

In the lead up to Easter we will be putting up a new lent devotion each week day. These devotions will also be available in the discussions section of our Facebook page and will be played on New Zealand’s Rhema.

Yesterday we talked about our purchases and aiming to purchase ethically as much as we can as a reflection of God’s concern for all. Today the challenge is different.

We live in a society of obsessive consumerism. We often spend to feel good. We acquire things as objects of status and to reflect our quality of life. We’re a culture of addicted spenders and often we don’t know it until something causes us to stop.

Tomorrow I want to challenge you to spend nothing – if you must, cover the bills that keep your power on and the roof over your head, but apart from that, spend nothing – purchase nothing – have a spend nothing day, or better yet, why not extend it to a spend nothing week – a 7 day period where you spend nothing, not a cent.

The experience can be freeing or agitating. Either way it’s a chance to reflect – to open your eyes to the messages around us, bombarding us in an effort to make us spend, spend, spend. These messages capture our imagination and have a tendency to enslave us to the whims of our culture.

Seeking to spend nothing for a limited time allows us to refocus, to take control of our imagination and critically examine the things we hear – it gives us a chance to squarely put our focus on Jesus and examine the life he calls us to, not the life the latest slogan calls us to.

We are more than products and followers of good marketing campaigns; we are followers of the risen Jesus.

Pray

Jesus – as we seek to not spend, please give us perspective. Help us to open our eyes and critically analyze the messages we are bombarded with all the time. Enable us to keep our focus on living as you lived.

Amen

Note: Spending and giving are two different things. This is not a restriction on giving and yes, this was inspired by the annual Buy Nothing Day that is worth doing as well.