Hello, my name is Steve Higginbotham and I am an impulse buyer. There, I feel better now. But it's true, I'm the kind of guy for which they make commercials and design eye-catching packaging. When I go shopping, if I see something on the shelf I like, I put it in the buggy. Consequently, my children never miss an opportunity to go shopping with me, and my wife rarely sends me.

But this "impulse buying" has sometimes led to some very poor purchases. You see, I don't check the price like I should, and it's not until I'm at the checkout that I realize how expensive some items are. Well, at this point, I'm too embarrassed to say anything. I don't want to hold people up in the line behind me by putting it back. So I proceed with the purchase that has now lost its luster.

Now, if I can change subjects, is that not precisely why we choose to sin? Impulse. If we fully comprehended the cost before the transaction was made, we wouldn't make it. But we go on our impulse. Immediate gratification. And we don't worry about the price until we get to the checkout.

Well friends, let me remind you that there will be a "checkout" some day, and we will have to pay for our "purchases." Therefore, I would encourage you, as well as myself, to learn self-discipline, and make life-choices based, not upon today, but upon eternity.

[Jesus said] "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21 NASB).