We are entering one of the most dangerous times of the year for families. Christmas is approaching and unfortunately the reason for the season gets lost as retail marketing ramps up. Christmas is an important holiday, it is the day we mark the birth of Jesus Christ. There is no greater cause for celebration than the entry of the Son of God into the world. Without Christ’s birth there would be no death on the cross and no resurrection, which would mean no salvation for us, no eternity to look forward to, no future hope for humanity. Christmas is therefore a good season to give gifts, but only because it is in remembrance of the greatest gift of all. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

For businesses it is a time of hope also, as many small retailers finally look to get out of the red and enter the black. On a financial balance sheet red represents running at a loss, not selling enough to meet all the costs associated with running a business and hence failing to break-even. It represents stress, worry and oppression because businesses can’t survive by being constantly in the red, especially small businesses. So “giving seasons”, of which Christmas is the greatest, represent an opportunity to get back into the black, that is to go beyond break-even and start to record profits in their earnings. Some retailers only make a profit over the Christmas season and so have to make enough to survive for the rest of the year on the seasonal profits ahead. It is becoming even harder for small retailers as we all go to the big stores to get our shopping done all at once, or logon to the online giants to avoid risking catching the pandemic at the local mall. Some of this is the reality of life, not everything we want to buy is available locally, however, lets face it, some of it is, if we take the time to look.

Moving from business to people though this is a season of great danger to families. Futures and destinies are affected by what people do with their money as we enter this season of sales. This is because debt-based poverty is a form of enslavement, if you have ever been truely poor you will know that poverty places restrictions on people’s abilities to make choices and live their life to the full. Debt-based poverty increases this to even more severe levels. “…the borrower is the slave of the lender” (Proverbs 22:7). One of the ways that poverty and especially debt-based poverty enslaves people is by taking away their hope. As an extreme example of this: for the person earning less than the repayments on their loans the mountain is only growing, and their ability to climb it is decreasing by the day. At which point will they decide it is better to simply jump off the edge into the abyss?

Hope deferred makes the heart sick (Proverbs 12:12), and for many the marketing season of Christmas is the living out of this process: ads create false hope of a longing being fulfilled, but the resulting debt is a deferral of the real longing, and as scripture warned us, this makes the heart sick. You see hope is stirred in this time of intense advertising and serious bargain bashing, which seems to start earlier every year! We see the messages portrayed to us in the flashy brochures, the screen ads, the highway billboards and we start to believe we can have all the material possessions we want! We can even give them away to others! It is in this time that our eyes take over from our God-given common sense. Our personal finances move from the positive black to the negative red, debt climbs higher as our desires grow greater. Even our generosity becomes a stumbling block as our use of credit well exceeds our bank balance. We want to get the best gifts, and we want to give the best gifts. Our motivation isn’t purely selfish, after all we want to make sure our loved ones get the best so they know we care about them. Parents overspend on their children and lovers lavish unneeded luxury items on each other. We find ourselves entrapped by the world and its material riches which we simply cannot afford.

Giving gifts is a good thing, its a way of showing love, its a representation of God the Father in our lives and his own character of giving gifts (James 1:17). However, modern marketing campaigns entice us to buy more and more, to buy bigger and better, to upgrade our already adequate vehicles and devices. Today that splurge of spending is larger than it ever was, driven by an abundance of temporarily low, and even interest free, credit options. In our excitement the default fees and time limits written in the small print are ignored as it suddenly dawns on us that we can buy our spouse that diamond ring which is worth many times what someone with our income would have spent a few years ago. Reality is shut in the wardrobe as we ignore the practicalities of our purchase.

We might not all be buying diamond rings, but what are we buying and how far is it from what we can really afford? What is the long term impact of our purchasing? Are we buying a gift that blesses someone, or are we trapping ourselves in debt to impress someone? This is the time of year for us to be wise as a serpent (Matthew 10:16), because if we don’t the serpent of marketing will catch us out instead. You see just as easy money brings the heaviest burden, and rewards un-earned bring the hardest punishments, so the debt beyond our means brings the strongest enslavement. When the hubbub of the season is over and the bills start arriving we read how much in the red we are and we suddenly realise too late that we cannot afford all the debt we have accumulated over the Christmas season. The hope we felt before our purchase turns sour and in its place a wash of hopelessness comes over us, and a sickness of the heart sets in.

Poverty is one of the worst pandemics of our time, it may be overshadowed by the recent health pandemic, it may be partially hidden away by government relief packages, but it still stands prominent on the street corners of our society. And we need to be aware that at this time of year it dresses up in gold leaf, buffs itself up with computer generated polish, and it calls out convincingly to all who pass by. Poverty encourages us to come and spend what we haven’t got so that we can enjoy the grandeurs of empty gestures, and gain material possessions which are destined to rust and decay. Just like its friend folly (Proverbs 9:13-18), poverty invites us to leave the way of wisdom. And, when we do turn into spend money with it that we do not have, it has its way with us, and then it leaves us hungry, cold, disillusioned, and weighed down in the entrapment of debt.

What is wisdom for this coming season? It is to review what God has given us, look at what others need around us and find the balance we can afford. Prepare for the onslaught of advertising and material possessiveness by budgeting now for any Christmas presents you will be purchasing for others. Encourage others not to spend more than they can afford on presents for you. Avoid taking out loans, credit, or any other sort of debt for presents. Give because that is appropriate on the birth of our Lord, but give from what you have, not from what you do not have. And, finally determine that you are going to be fully present with those around you on Christmas Day. So that you can share together the celebration of the birth of our Saviour, to whom we already owe our all.