{"id":646,"date":"2018-12-18T20:42:21","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T20:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glitterandgraceteens.com\/?p=646"},"modified":"2018-12-18T20:42:26","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T20:42:26","slug":"consumed-by-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/?p=646","title":{"rendered":"Consumed by christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Consumed by Christmas <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With Christmas only days away, the rush\nhas begun! Today, I was walking through Walmart trying to get some last-minute shopping\ndone, and on every aisle, I heard at least one kid saying that they wanted\nsomething. To be honest, my son was one them. As we walked each toy aisle, he\nfound something new that he had to<\/em>\nhave. Even at 3-years-old, my son is not satisfied with what he already has. At\nhome, he has a room full of toys, food on his table every day, and more than he\nreally needs. However, society has made him think that he\u2019ll never have enough.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stores full of excess always leave you\nfeeling like you need more. When I go to Walmart to go \u201cgrocery\u201d shopping for 3\nitems, I never get out of the store with only those 3 items. There is always\nsomething more that I think I need and when I get home, I\u2019ll always think I need\nsomething else. As I drive home, I pass by huge houses and beautiful cars that I\nwould love to own. Car lots are full of shiny vehicles much nicer than what I own.\nIt\u2019s hard not to want when there is so much to offer in this world. As a\nChristian, you must train your mind, re-focus on what matters, and not let the\nworld consume you. It\u2019s not easy, but with prayer and dedication, it can be\ndone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You\nshall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s\nwife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs\nto your neighbor.” Exodus 20:17 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To covet means to desire what does not\nbelong to you. Never having enough money is<\/strong> regarded as a\nsymptom of the love of money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you desire that you don\u2019t have\ntoday? Maybe it\u2019s a new phone? Car? Bigger house? More money?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are living in the age of \u201cwant.\u201d In Exodus\n20:17, the Bible tells us not to covet several things including people,\noxes\/donkeys, our neighbors house, and anything that belongs to our neighbor. The\nlast part sums it all up \u2013 \u201cdo not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.\u201d\nYour neighbor is your friend at school, your family member, or even the person\nat the store that you don\u2019t even know. There will always be someone in this\nworld that has more than you, and there will always be someone that has much\nless. Either way, do not get distracted by the consumer mentality that this\nworld has to offer. This world offers a lot of \u201cthings\u201d, but our God can give\nyou more than you\u2019ve ever imagined. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Christmas, take your focus off what\nyou don\u2019t have and remember what you do have. If you are reading this today,\nyou probably have a phone or a laptop, internet access, a roof over your head,\nand maybe you\u2019re even eating a snack while checking out my blog. Wherever you\nare, or whatever you are doing, you are blessed. You may not have 100 presents\nunder your tree, the best new phone, or everything you\u2019ve ever dreamt of, but\nyou can have the one that matters, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas was never meant to be about\npresents and goodies. Christmas is meant to remind us of the birth of Jesus\nChrist and His life and love for His children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Christmas, make time to sit down and\nthank God for His love for you. Don\u2019t let the rush of Christmas stress you to\nthe point that you forget what it\u2019s all about in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Consumed by Christmas With Christmas only days away, the rush has begun! Today, I was walking through Walmart trying to get some last-minute shopping done, and on every aisle, I heard at least one kid saying that they wanted something. To be honest, my son was one them. As we walked each toy aisle, he … Continue reading Consumed by christmas<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-devotions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=646"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":648,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions\/648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.empoweredjesusgirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}