Over $57,400,000,000 was spent on Black Friday. Wow!
Every year companies will offer on Black Friday what marketers would call a “tripwire”. A tripwire sale is basically an irresistible low-ticket offer where price is not an objective.
The goal of a “tripwire” sale on Black Friday is not to make a profit.
The goal is to get as many people to show up and more importantly, buy other products besides the tripwire. Their ability to get people to buy their other products is what makes the event a success*.
We find spiritual tripwires all around us. Those moments, places, relational situations where we are drawn in. It’s not that the situation is wrong in and of itself - but it puts us in a place where we are bombarded with temptations, surrounded by opportunities to compromise our beliefs.
Spiritual tripwires can show up anywhere. They are simple, innocent, free of danger.
It’s the party you were invited to after the game. It’s the nice hotel you’re staying at on a business trip. It’s the drink you ordered, the computer you turned on, the date with your boyfriend/girlfriend... You step through the tripwire and suddenly find yourself in new situations that are difficult, that surround you with dangerous options, destructive temptations.
What we need is discernment!
PRAYER #9: Our Need for Spiritual Discernment
"Let those with discernment listen carefully.
The paths of the lord are true and right,
and righteous people live by walking in them.
But in those paths sinners stumble and fall."
Hosea 14:9
Today, we pray for discernment, for the ability to understand, to foresee the tripwires we walk toward. Pray that we not only recognize them, but that we have the strength to resist the dangerous choices around us
Today’s prayer is vital to our spiritual journey. May God give each of you the strength to endure, and the wisdom to discern!
*Statistics from Justin Trapp, "What Can Church Leaders Learn from Black Friday?"
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