Spiritual Shopping...er Shopping Spiritually...or something like that...

You have two different types of shoppers, in my opinion. The strategic shopper and the instant gratification shopper. Let's review the characteristics of each:

The strategic shopper is a careful observer of options and a hesitant decision maker. If the strategic shopper is in need of a green shirt, he or she will go to 800 different stores and try on every green shirt they can find, surveying price, fit, and shade of green, always hesitant to commit because there's always the possibility that at the next store they will find something better.

The impulse shopper goes into any store on any given day and may hit up the sale rack, finding a number of good deals, and walking out of the store with a blue skirt, purple heels, and a necklace. Which are all great buys and may or may not be needed or worn, but the impulse buyer is more likely to forget that the entire reason they went to the store was to get a green shirt, and now their budget has been spent. Alas, the green shirt will have to wait...

Most of us fall into both of these categories at different points in time, but I would say that we all tend to lean one way or the other as a general rule. I think the way we shop says a lot about the way we live our lives. Are we the strategist, that seeks and analyzes, surveying every situation before we act or commit, to the point of continual indecision? Or are we impulsive, looking at whatever is directly in front of us, and assuming that because it's there and seems too good to pass up that we should commit to it?

Both of these personality types are good and bad, having both strengths and weaknesses. To the strategist, I believe God spends most of his time trying to teach us to trust, to act, to not rely on logic and second guess everything, but to heed every opportunity. To the impulsive, God may be teaching us to wait, engage in prayer, ask for his guidance, to not be deceived by anything that's put in front of us.

There's got to be a fine line between the two. Because just as God knows our personality, because He created us, the enemy has studied our personality too, and is always searching for the areas of strategy and impulse in our lives so that he can lure us into a place that's either going to keep us from acting, or lure us headfirst into something that may look pretty but that we really don't need and may distract us or prevent us from attaining what we do need.

God has called us to grow and learn, and be fishers of men. And we obviously don't want to give the enemy too much credit. But the enemy is a fisher of men too. He is constantly shopping through the fishing lures at Academy Sports, thinking to himself "this white spinner lure would be perfect for val, this one will keep her involved in distractions, or maybe this jig lure will keep her second guessing herself so she doesn't do anything."

We all have areas of strategy and impulse in our lives, maybe we're strategic in finances and impulsive in relationships, or vice-versa. We only must keep in mind that we're going to be tested and tried in these areas, both by God who is trying to grow us and speak to us through them, and the enemy who's trying to use them against us. So next time you feel like you should go to 10 more stores stores searching for that green shirt, or you are distracted by the purple heels that you really don't need on your journey for the green shirt. Ask yourself where God is trying to call you to waiting or action, and where the enemy may be tempting you to do the opposite. Happy shopping!