The day after thanksgiving people rush into early morning lines (sometimes even right after dinner...) and search for Christmas gifts for their family and friends or for the perfect deal for something they've been pining after.
As black Friday shopping became more and more popular, a response to the insane amount of money spent came in 2011 in the Huffington Post. A leader from a nonprofit prompted consumers to not simply spend on black Friday but to respond to their receiving of so many wonderful products and goods by donating to nonprofits the following Tuesday.
When people experience receiving something, they often decide to respond by giving back.
In this case, people were receiving crazy deals on new blenders and TVs, so many chose to respond to their gratitude for lots of great belongings by giving back to a nonprofit a few short days later.
As Christians, we should understand generosity and be an example of generosity more than anyone else. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19) and we give in response to our receiving.
We have received the free gift of salvation and been offered eternal life through Jesus. In response to this, our entire lives become an offering, or a response to receiving this.
Although I love a good black Friday deal, we don't need to have received anything tangible to recognize the good gifts God has given us. We know we are all undeserving of God's love, yet He willingly gave to us anyway.
In response to this, we should be the most generous people living out a continual response to this message. This comes in many forms and doesn't have to include Giving Tuesday.
But, I think it's important to be an example to the world of what generosity can look like and Giving Tuesday is a beautiful example of that. If you have received because of God's goodness in this thanksgiving season, it should feel unnatural to not respond by giving.
If you're looking for a place to give, I'd love for you to start here!
I found Rest Stop Ministries through a friend. It is a non-for-profit faith-based organization in the Nashville, TN area dedicated to comprehensively restoring female survivors of sex trafficking.
RSM follows a housing-first model and provides holistic survivor-centered, trauma-informed care in a long-term residential community.
Services at Rest Stop Ministries include:
- Medical, dental, & vision care -Trauma-focused mental health therapy -Legal services
-Individualized case management
-Education, life skills, job training
-Transportation needs
-Family reconciliation
-So much more!
In their words,
"The primary goal of our program is to inspire survivors to re-imagine their lives and to empower and equip them to live healthy, financially independent, purpose-filled lives. By partnering with Rest Stop Ministries financially, you are sustaining the hope-filled, restorative work being done in our long-term residential program and our Good Hope Farms social enterprise."
Donation portal:
Website: https://www.reststopministries.org/
FB + IG: @reststopministries
Twitter: @reststopmin