The Christian Dollar

Forget about Easter and Christmas when you can gift shop for your family. Christians today can spend money any time of the year. Retailers know this and family Christian stores are available in most communities. However some have been hit hard in the last five years or so because competition from bigger retailers looking for the Christian dollar is growing. So instead of finding yourself in what once used to be the cozy little book store with people that knew your name, you may be perusing for family friendly items in a huge retail store.

This shortly after you’ve tithed at church and went home to read the Sunday advertisements while spending time with your family. Christians being a well sought after commodity might be buying into it. Personally I like leaving church on Sunday and then going home to…hmmm what was that word…yes, rest, that was it. I like going home to rest on Sunday. But, honestly I know there is no rest for the weary and these days we fill our weekends up with the tasks we can’t complete in a week because the week is filled with work.

So everybody wants your money after all that work…and most times we just want to spend it anyways. Meanwhile they’ll do anything to get it. Just consider the dilemma retailers were in when deciding whether their employees should say “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” in the last few years and you know exactly what I’m talking about. Personally if I make my way into a store and there is a friendly customer service agent smiling and willing to talk to me and if needed assist me, they could smile and say to me “Happy Sweet Potato Day to you madam” and I wouldn’t care. But don’t call me madam.

Point being?

Do we hold onto our dollar for those that cater to our family, Christian families alone?

Or

Do we go out into the world and support those that will treat a family, Christian or otherwise fairly without putting on a Christian face?

The dollar changes more than just the retailer, it changes the purchaser. And while yes we should be weary of where our dollar goes, and hope that it is used appropriately after it has left our purse, isn’t it more important that we remember how we should treat people than how they or we believe they should treat us?