For the last number of days we’ve been hearing a lot of hoopla about a massive lottery, offering the possibility of winning over 2 billion dollars. In fact, the media has been full of advice found in articles with such intriguing titles as “What Canadians Need to Know About Winning the Lottery” or “12 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Winning the Big One." There is advice about how to purchase your ticket online, and how to cross the border with your ticket. There’s the usual advice on how to invest your winnings and for those who need it, how to ditch family and friends expecting a handout.
And though CTV news reports the odds of winning this latest jackpot are one in 292.2 million, as I write, many are scurrying to purchase their ticket before the deadline closes, hoping to gain what they believe will be eternal happiness and bliss.
DID YOU KNOW?
The soldiers who crucified Jesus divided His garments into four parts, one part for each soldier and because Jesus’ tunic was seamless, they gambled for it by casting lots (KJV, John 19:23,24)? Can you name six sins involved in gambling. Coveteousness, greed, love of money, disregard for the “golden rule” of doing unto others, lust and licentiousness.
CAN YOU NAME AT LEAST ONE PRINCIPLE VIOLATED IN GAMBLING?
Gambling means that everyone else loses so I can win. However, in God’s eternal plan, all have equal opportunity to choose Him and be assured of eternal life. In other words, no one loses eternal life so that another can gain.
Proverbs 13:11 (KJV) says, “Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.” And we are counseled that “an inheritance gained hurriedly at the beginning will not be blessed in the end” (NASB, Proverbs 20:21). Hebrews 13:5 says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’
The warning to remain contented with what we have and the promise that Jesus will never leave us is far more more reassuring than buying a ticket with a 292.2 million to 1 chance of winning. We don’t want to put our trust in money, do we? For “when you set your eyes on it [money], it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens” (Proverbs 23:5).