Episode 334: I’m Talkin. . .Purchase

I’m talking episode 334 for September 8th, 2024.

This is Joel from the I’m talking microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week we’re talking purchase.

Purchase is a very common word, something that is generally on our minds, something we probably do almost every day.

It is just the act of living means you must purchase things.

We purchase groceries, we purchase gas for our cars, we, we purchase all kinds of different things.

And sometimes it is a mindless transaction because it has to be done.

So like getting gas, you just know you have to get gas, you have to get to work, those kinds of things.

Sometimes purchase is a big decision.

It might be a house, it might be an automobile, it might be some other thing that is, is a larger outlay of money.

And so it has to be something that is approached with some intelligence, some decision-making processes.

And sometimes our purchase of things can get us into trouble.

We may not have the funds.

We go into debt.

We may want things that we don’t need and we feel like we have to come up with the resources to get them.

And so that can lead to trouble as well.

In the world we live in today, it’s, it’s a very purchase minded world.

It’s, I want this, I want that, you know, advertising comes after our dollars for whatever.

And it is something that needs to be approached with caution, that needs some intelligence behind it.

Otherwise, we can get into a situation where our desire to purchase gets us in trouble.

And therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

There are two areas of purchase that I want to talk about today, and the first is just what I covered in the opening and the world that we live in, the advertising that we hear.

And so that leads to another word.

I don’t know if I’ve ever talked about it, but it’s stewardship.

And that means controlling our finances.

Now you don’t know me personally, maybe, or maybe most of the people that listen of the, you know, handful that do actually do know me, but that has not been a strong point for me in my life.

And it’s like, if I can afford it, if I can afford a monthly payment, then those are things that I would purchase.

My desires are often on the higher end of things.

And so I can get myself in trouble at times with that mindset.

And so as a Christian, we are called to steward our resources.

Money is one of those, time, our talents, those kinds of things.

But the actual outlay of cash in a purchase transaction is what can often lead to trouble.

I’m thankful to say that God has taught me many lessons over the years, that as I get up into my, I guess I’m a senior citizen now, I have a more educated, a more structured approach to those things.

I still want to purchase things I might not be able to afford and look at monthly payments.

But for the most part, my wife and I have learned to live more within our resources.

And so that’s the one area that I think can challenge those of us who call ourselves Christians as much as it challenges the rest of the world.

The second thing I want to talk about is eternal life.

And you know, when you think of the world that you live in, and if you have enough money, you can purchase whatever you want.

And oftentimes people approach Jesus in that same sense.

It’s like Jesus talking about the kingdom of God and eternal life.

And they said, what do I have to give to get eternal life?

It’s like a transactional purchase.

And that’s where the world gets in trouble because they think often the same way as those in Jesus day.

And we know that eternal life is a gift given to us from Jesus Christ by his act on the cross, by accepting him as God’s son and what he did for us on the cross.

We get to have eternal life.

There is no price to be paid.

Christ already paid that price.

Christ made that purchase for us.

So we don’t even have to think about whether we can afford it.

And yet the world thinks that is backwards.

The world says, if I can have enough money, I should be able to purchase whatever I want.

And they have a hard time dealing with free.

And that is what we as Christians have available to us to share with others is that free gift of eternal life because of who Jesus Christ is.

It should fill our lives with joy.

It should fill our lives with peace, and we should be wanting to give that away until next week.

This is Joel from the I’m talking.