When Winning Just Might Be Losing!

Last week as I was reading the newspaper, a story about a small rural town in South Dakota grabbed my attention. In this town of 3,000 residents, someone bought a winning ticket in the Powerball lottery worth .... are you ready? .... $232.1 million! And the name of the town? Winner, SD! At first I chuckled to myself as I read this and saw the irony in it. But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered, "Does winning the lottery really make one a 'winner?'"

According to a number of Internet sites, a sizeable portion of million dollar plus lottery winners eventually file bankruptcy (the % cited ranges from 25 % to 80%). My point is not to determine an actual percentage of just how many big lottery winners go broke - but to simply point out a truth that all of us need to realize. MONEY DOES NOT GUARANTEE HAPPINESS! In fact, the Bible clearly teaches that "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10).

Those of us who claim allegiance to Jesus Christ must grasp the truth spelled out by Paul just prior to the verse I just quoted. Listen (and APPLY!) what he writes to Timothy (and by extension to all of US!):

"But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that" (1 Timothy 6:6-8).

This is not all that easy to apply in our materialistic world -- but by God's grace and for HIS glory - let's strive to do so!

Thanks for stopping by . . .

pj