Impulse Buyers

Hello, my name is Steve Higginbotham and I am an impulse buyer.  There, I feel better now.  But it's true, I'm the kind of guy for which they make commercials and design eye-catching packaging.  When I go shopping, if I see something on the shelf I like, I put it in the buggy.  Consequently, my children never miss an opportunity to go shopping with me, and my wife rarely sends me.

But this "impulse buying" has sometimes led to some very poor purchases.  You see, I don't check the price like I should, and It's not until I'm at the checkout that I realize how expensive some items are.  Well, at this point, I'm too embarrassed to say anything.  I don't want to hold people up in the line behind me by putting it back.  So I proceed with the purchase, that has now lost its luster.

 Now if I can change subjects, is that not precisely why we choose to sin?  Impulse.  If we fully comprehended the cost before the transaction was made, we wouldn't make it.  But we go on our impulse.  Immediate gratification.  And we don't worry about the price until we get to the checkout.

Well friends, let me remind you that there will be a "checkout" some day, and we will have to pay for our "purchases."  Therefore, I would encourage you, as well as myself, to learn self-discipline, and make life-choices based, not upon today, but upon eternity.

Editor's Note:

How true, how true!  The message of the above article is one to which we ought to be able to relate readily.  We certainly understand the concept of impulse buying.  Likely, we've all felt the compulsion from time to time.  The analogy between that and succumbing to the temptation to commit some sin is apt.  Temptation, being what it is, makes the sin appear alluring and gratifying.  If we step back and examine the whole package, which includes the consequence (cost) of committing the sin, then most of the time we would pass it by.  However, if we simply act on impulse, the devil's got us!

The consequence of sin has always been, and continues to be, "death" (Genesis 2:17; 3:19; Romans 6:23).  Spiritual death immediately results in consequence to sin.  The reality of physical death for mankind began to play out the moment Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden and removed from the presence of the "tree of life" (Genesis 2:9; 3:22-23).  If one dies physically while already dead spiritually, then eternal death (condemnation) looms on the eternal horizon (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 21:8).

 Sadly, many people's lives have been devastated by compulsive impulse buying.  But the consequence of unforgiven sin is far worse, eternally worse!  If you are struggling with sin in your life, please repent (Luke 13:3), confess your faith in Christ as your Savior and God's Son (Matthew 10:32-33), surrender to Him in baptism for the remission of your sins (Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38), and begin to walk in "newness of life" (Romans 6:3-4).