If You Want to Win, Bet on a Sure Thing!

This past week I went into a convenience store to purchase a drink. As I was waiting in line, there was an older gentleman who could barely walk standing at the counter. The attendant was trying to be helpful to him, but his voice was so soft you could barely hear him speak. I asked him if there was something I could help him with, and his reply was “I came to buy lottery tickets”. Here was a person who could barely walk or talk, who made the effort to drive to the convenience store for a chance to get rich on a few lottery tickets. It made me very sad. Why? Because there are millions of people who fall into this trap on a daily basis. People who are so sucked into the chance of becoming rich in the financial sense, it has left their souls poor.

More than once in the past year, there were huge lines of people waiting to purchase a Powerball ticket with the potential for the largest payout ever. A single winning ticket would have been worth about a gazillion dollars, or slightly over 1.5 billion if you are able to actually think in numbers that large. The odds of winning anything at all were 1 in about 300 million, yet people lined up to spend their money knowing that the odds were stacked against them.

Statistics show many people who DO win large amounts of money often gamble it all away, end up in bankruptcy or worse yet, dead. Gambling is a socially accepted pastime in the U.S., yet it can cost you everything. As Americans, the desire to “get rich” is a driver affecting people of any age or financial status. There are all kinds of opportunities for people to put their money into various get-rich-quick schemes. However, I have never seen many people who have invested in these schemes become rich, or remain content with what they had after they did hit it big.

Lottery scratch off tickets are the worst. They will let you win enough to keep stringing you along, making you believe you will win something big. The fact is you will win something eventually, but I can bet you that it will never exceed what you have spent on tickets. Gambling is a disease of the mind. If you have this disease, the enemy has tricked you into thinking if you only had more money so you could do more things it will make you happy, but it won’t. Money and the ability to buy things is only a temporary high. Soon you will have the need to obtain more things and thus it becomes a vicious cycle. I have spoken with people who say they can stop at any time. When I challenge them to stop, it never takes them long to get back in the cycle.

The detrimental effects of gambling are astounding, yet we rarely talk about them as a society. Why do people take such risks knowing there is the possibility of losing everything, including destroying relationships with family, friends, or children and risking the potential of losing a job, potential bankruptcy or jail?
America has an obsession with money, because in the world’s view, money is power. This is just a scheme of the enemy. However, this is nothing new. Remember the parable of the rich young ruler?

We read in: Matthew 19:16-22:
Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” “Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. But to answer your question—if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” the man asked. And Jesus replied: “‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.” “I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?” Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

I’m not a counselor and I don’t play one on TV, but I have a friend who is a counselor who shared with me how the brain is altered by addiction. The brain becomes consumed and even morphs into something differently as it responds to the addiction. The cool thing is you can also reverse the effects of addiction.

Don’t gamble away the most precious thing you will ever receive, which is the relationship Jesus desires with you. Nothing on earth will ever fill the void of an eternally poor soul.

Jesus knew the heart of this rich young man. He knew he had a problem with giving. Think how happy the young ruler was until He asked Jesus, ‘What else must I do?” When Jesus asked him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, Jesus knew the rich young ruler’s god was money. The scripture says the rich young ruler went away sad.
His desire to obtain more money and possessions overpowered a rich relationship with Jesus Christ. There is no peace, joy or contentment in the constant desire for more material things. My prayer is you will not walk away sad, but you will find peace and understanding in what being rich is truly all about. When selfish desires own you, they become a cancer to your soul. Money will never make you rich, but Jesus already has! Jesus has made you an heir to the throne with a matchless inheritance.

So what kind of gambler are you? Would you rather take a risk on a sure thing or risk losing everything? I’d rather take the risk on a sure thing than something which will only bring sadness, disappointment and heartache.
Don’t waste your money on something which will never make you rich and allow it to become your god. You will lose big time and the pay off is a life of hell!