Every year, Black Friday comes roaring in right after Thanksgiving, our American annual day of gratitude. During one moment we’re thanking God for His provision, and in the next heartbeat our minds, bodies, and souls are relentlessly bombarded with sales, countdown clocks, and the pressure to buy more than we need. It’s a strange and sudden cultural swing from giving thanks to getting more.
Have you ever wondered what should Christians make of Black Friday?
Is it something to avoid? Something to embrace? Or something we approach differently?
Black Friday Tests What Already Lives in Our Hearts
In Matthew 6:21, Jesus warns us clearly: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Black Friday doesn’t create greed, envy, or discontent. It simply reveals what’s already there lurking beneath the surface, exposing what pulls at us and what we believe will make us feel secure, successful, or satisfied.
This doesn’t mean buying something on sale is wrong. Maybe we should ask:
Why am I drawn to this? What story am I believing—that more will finally be enough?
Gratitude Should Shape Our Spending
Thanksgiving reminds us that everything we have comes from God.
James 1:17 ESV
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Black Friday can be an opportunity to carry that gratitude forward, if we let it.
Before buying, we can simply pause and pray:
Lord, thank You for what You’ve already given me. Help me spend with wisdom, not worry; with gratitude, not grasping.
Gratitude is the antidote to impulse.
Stewardship Matters (Even on Sale Days)
Scripture calls us to be good stewards of what God entrusts to us. This includes money, time, and attention.
1 Corinthians 4:2 ESV
Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
Sales are not free invitations to overspend or to buy things that drain our budget or clutter our lives. Buying things we don’t need is a waste. It’s not godly stewardship. Indeed, more often than not, the most God-honoring decision we can make is not clicking “add to cart.”
Stewardship asks:
- Do I need this?
- Does this purchase align with my values?
- Is this wise for my financial reality?
In a world that measures success in possessions, stewardship is a quiet act of worship.
Black Friday Can Be an Opportunity for Generosity
What if instead of thinking about how to get more, we used Black Friday to bless others?
- Buying warm clothes for someone in need
- Finding thoughtful gifts for people who rarely receive them
- Supporting small businesses, local artists, and ethical makers
- Donating part of what we save to a ministry or mission
Consumer culture says: Buy for yourself. The Gospel says: Love your neighbor.
Black Friday becomes holy when generosity becomes the goal.
Christians Are Formed by What We Practice
We are shaped, slowly and subtly, by what we repeatedly do. Our habits make us who we are. If our Black Friday is driven by hurry, pressure, and discontent, those habits will taint our hearts.
But, if we approach this day after Thanksgiving with intentionality, gratitude, and generosity, we can actually use it as a spiritual formation moment.
A Closing Word
To be totally clear, Black Friday isn’t inherently sinful. It’s simply a cultural moment that invites us to examine our hearts.
- Will we follow the rhythm of the world, rushing, consuming, and grasping?
- Or will we live differently as grateful, wise, and generous people?
The way of Jesus doesn’t ask us to withdraw from the world, but to move through it with a different spirit.
Let us we be people who hold our possessions loosely as we cling to Christ tightly.
A Reflection Question
How can you practice gratitude, stewardship, and generosity in the midst of a consumer-driven season?
Interested in starting Advent strong?
Checkout these pointers from fellow blogger Barb. She publishes Christian content faithfully on her site My Life In Our Father’s World. #ADVENT2025
Until my next post…
Be salty, stay lit.
Rainer Bantau —The Devotional Guy™
You can now find my articles in The Christian Grandfather Magazine.
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The Devotional Guy™ 
I’m glad that this resonated with you, Barb. Generosity, like gratitude, is a powerful game-changer, IMHO. Blessings. Thanks for reading and commenting.
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Love this…”Black Friday becomes holy when generosity becomes the goal.” 🩷
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