Cash Back

Thank God for the battle verses in the Bible. We go into the unknown every day of our lives, and especially every Monday morning, for the week is sure to be a battlefield, outwardly and inwardly in the unseen life of the spirit, which is often by far the sternest battlefield for souls. Either way, the Lord your God goes before you, He shall fight for you!  Amy Carmichael

Have you ever really thought about cash back?  You know the commercials that advertise you can get cash back on tires, gas, groceries etc….   The commercial is intended to make you spend more but they make it sound so enticing.  It is kind of ironic don’t you think that they sell us on buying more so you can get something back that is less than what you spent.

In reality they are trying to convince us that the more you spend the more you save.  What kind of thinking is that?  I am currently reading a book about business.  In the book it talks about how every transaction that we do in business should be a win-win-win for everyone involved.  What does that mean?  It means that the business owner is not in it just to make money.  If you run your business with a win-win-win theory, it means that the business owner wins, the supplier for the business wins and the customer wins.  What a concept. 

What normally happens is companies are greedy so they do whatever it takes to win.  This means they will cheat the customer, charge outrageous prices or take advantage of their suppliers.  In this case with credit cards they will charge extremely high interest rates so that they can offer cash back.  They want you to think you are making money by using your credit card. 

Let’s take furniture for an example.  Most furniture stores mark up an item by at least 80% or more.  So here is where it gets interesting.  They will run a promotion and mark the item back down to give the illusion that the consumer is getting a great deal when in reality they are just reducing the amount of profit they will make on the item.  How about this trick?  Most retailers put the sales items at the back of the store so that there is a good chance of you making an impulse buy before you ever get to the sale items.  Retailers in furniture will often use a maze layout to increase the chances that as you wander through the maze you will see something you can’t live without and impulsively buy.  There is even a retailer that sets up their store so you have to walk all the way through the entire store before you reach the check-out line.  What they don’t advertise is that there are various shortcuts throughout the building but you will probably miss those because they are hidden.

I am not trying to pick on the furniture retailers.  You find the same thing in car showrooms, grocery stores, gas stations and all sorts of businesses.  God never intended for us to use greed as a motivator for business.  God intended us to own businesses but our intent should not be to make the most we can make and cheat others.  God’s perfect plan is for us to charge a reasonable price and in that perfect plan the customer will return because they are not being cheated.  If everything I own is God’s, how can I use it to cheat others to get ahead.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am often guilty of not being prepared.  You give me the best tool, the Bible, to help me in the preparation for the biggest battle of my life.  Help me to use it to overcome Satan when he attacks.  I am fighting for eternity and I want to win.   

Scripture:

“When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight. You shall in any case return the pledge to him again when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his own garment and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before the Lord your God.

“You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.

“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.

“You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow’s garment as a pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.

“When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.  When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.  When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. 

And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this thing. Deuteronomy 24:10-22

So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying: “Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; for I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord, then how much more after my death? 

Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them.  For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”  Deuteronomy 31:24-29