A “Penney” for your thoughts

Ahh, the weekend is coming.  For most folks a time to spend more with family, get caught up on household chores and have some down time.  But for the Christian also a time to worship together.  We probably don’t think much about it but people in biblical times didn’t enjoy the weekend as we understand it.  Life for them was much more rigorous many times and Sundays were not understood as a “day off” by the world in which they lived.  Many of the blessings we enjoy in our culture such as “weekends”, “overtime pay”, “employment benefits”, “paid holidays”, etc find their origins in the kindness of Christians, but ultimately in the goodness of God !

J.C. Penney was one such compassionate businessman who was a Christian. Coming from very humble beginnings and the son of a Baptist pastor, God brought him to the place where he started his first store in 1902 calling it the “Golden Rule Store” and promoting honesty and doing good unto his customers.  In 1929 at the time of the Great Depression he owned 1,000 stores ! By 1971 at his death, he gave his 50,000 associates a share in his wealth in a “profit sharing” program.

We stand on the shoulders of the goodness of others in many ways, often not realizing it. Ultimately, it does come down to the goodness of God for anything we enjoy that’s good. As we approach another weekend and another thanksgiving remember that and let the “goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance” (Rom.2:4).   Let’s resist the whiny, “I’m entitled” mentality of the spoiled in our day and do our part to live for God (which comes only from true repentance from our sin to then do what is right by God’s grace) so that others may see the goodness of God and stand on even taller shoulders !