I’ve never shopped at Saks Fifth Avenue before. I’m more of a Target and TJ Maxx kind of girl. However, when a friend of mine started working at Saks and invited me to visit her, I opened myself up to the invitation. 

As I walked through those tall glass doors for the first time, seeing the sparkle from the chandeliers reflecting on the glossy tile floors, smelling expensive perfumes and leather, I felt totally out of place and yet was drawn in. I walked around the store in awe. 

For the first time, I was trying on Jimmy Choo shoes instead of just hearing about them. I got samples upon samples of new make-up and perfumes. I tried on designer clothes—some I could afford and some that were equal to my house payment. I walked around the purse department and into a room full of Gucci bags. 

It was fabulous. 

Not thinking about the cost, I scanned the room and picked out the Gucci bag that would be perfect for me. I looked it over and, out of curiosity, looked down at the price tag. Seriously!?!! What are they thinking? Why on earth would something this small need to cost so much?

A few months later, I was invited to a luncheon for my son’s school. Some of the salespeople from Saks graciously came and put on a fashion show for us. 

Before the fashion show started my friend asked if I would pray for our lunch. I agreed and quickly offered up a prayer to God: “How do I bring Jesus into a fashion show, let alone designer fashions that require us spending a bazillion dollars?” 

Then I asked God the question I had a few months earlier, “Why does a Gucci bag cost so much?” In my heart, I heard, Because it’s the real thing.

The real thing! We pay for what’s real. We have a desire to have things that are real. If given a choice between a free fake Gucci bag and a free real Gucci bag, most of us would choose the real one. There would be no reason to pick a fake. 

Jesus is the real thing. There is only one God, yet we choose cheap counterfeits all the time. We fill the empty spaces with things that leave us feeling even more empty. The price for salvation and the wonderful, amazing things that Jesus brings into our lives are the costliest gifts imaginable. But the good news is that Jesus paid it all in full so that we could enjoy every good and perfect gift that comes from knowing and loving Him. 

I pray today that you desire the real thing. That you take what has been paid in full for yourself, knowing that Your heavenly Father wants you to have it. He loves you.

Prayer:

Father God, I thank you for paying the price so that I could have every good and perfect gift. You are so wonderful. Thank you for all that You are and all that you give me. Help us—me, my children, and my loved ones—not to except any counterfeit. You alone are the real thing.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen

James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. NIV

James 1:16-18 So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures. MSG