Tag Archives: lottery

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How To Win The Lottery

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Have you ever thought about actually winning the lottery? Have you allowed your mind to wander into the thoughts about what you would do with the money? In my last post, I posed the question, “What if you won the lottery?”. In discussing the answer to that question, we looked at all of the various ways we could use the money. Today, I will show you HOW to win!

lottery

How To Win

Without taking the time for the necessary drumroll or hoopla, I will dive right in and tell you how you can win the lottery. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, I want you to stop right now and follow these two steps:

1.) Close your eyes.

2.) Open your eyes.

Presto! You are now a lottery winner!

Lottery Winner?

Don’t believe me? Take a look around. If you are reading this blog right now, you are among the top 34% of the world population simply because you have access to the internet. Not good enough for you?

Let’s look a little further. While there are certainly exceptions, I am going to assume you have an annual income of more than $10,000 per year. If so, you are among the world’s top 15% richest. Let that sink in.

If you make more than $25,000 a year, that ranking jumps you to the top 2% of the world’s richest! That means 98% of the world’s population makes less money per year than you do! No kidding. (Go to http://www.globalrichlist.com to see your own income ranked! )

Disagree?

So, please tell me how it is that you think you have not already won the lottery?

Clearly, virtually everyone reading this post has huge wealth advantages over the vast majority of the rest of the world. There really is no way to argue that. So now, let’s go back and review some of our thoughts from the last post.

Previous Statements

We agreed that many of us have made some of the following statements about what we would do if we won the lottery. How do these statements look now…?

I would tithe on the income!

I would give away a huge portion of the income!

I would not have any debt!

If I could not afford it with the lottery income, then I would not buy it!

My expenses would never outrun my income!

I would carve out a portion for savings for those unexpected expenses!

I would not fall into the trap of trying to keep up with the Jones’!

I would set aside a portion to help those around me in crisis!

How Do You Feel?

What are your thoughts now? Do you see any hypocrisy in the above statements or do you feel good about how you are handling your wealth? I have to admit to having bruised toes myself.

So, what should we do? What does the Bible say about how we should handle our wealth? Good question. Let’s look.

Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of wealth, but on God, who richly provides us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good reserve for the age to come, so that they may take hold of life that is real.
1 Timothy 6:17-19

We ARE The Rich!

Folks, If you have read this passage before and not realized it was talking directly to you, then you are not alone. Typically, when we read this, we think of all those people that are richer than we are.

However, as we see in the statistics above, we ARE those who are “rich in this present age.” So, what are we doing with that wealth? What are we doing with the businesses we own or operate?

Are we “rich in good works”? Are we “generous, willing to share”?

Are we “storing up for ourselves a good reserve for the age to come”?

Use Of Wealth?

When you read that last question, what comes to mind for you? For me, it is the following verses that I have used frequently on this site. Take a look:

If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire.
1 Corinthians 3:14-15

Eternal Impact

We are to be using the wealth WE ALREADY HAVE to be rich in good works, generous, and willing to share. We are to use this wealth to store up a reserve of reward that will last into eternity – eternal impact!

As I have said before, we are to be multiplying silhouettes – adding to the kingdom. In this way, we give God the only currency he wants – more souls to spend eternity with Him.

We have to take a look at our current “lottery” income and resources. We have to do a deep search into our hearts to make sure we are using what He has given us for His purposes.

What comes to mind when you think about your situation?

What do you wish you had done differently in the past?

What do you need to change now?

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What If You Won The Lottery?

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The other day I was thinking about all of the worthy Christian ministry organizations I have become aware of in the past several years (e.g. TrueLife Mission). I thought about how much money they are all trying to raise in order to accomplish the mission God has given them. At one point I even thought about how much I could help them if I could just win the lottery!

lottery

Not About The Lottery!

Now before you start commenting one way or the other on the morality of a lottery or anything like that, please know that this post is not at all about the lottery itself. We are simply going to take a look, in this post AND the next one, at how we would (and should) handle such enormous wealth if it were at our disposal.

Have you ever thought about it? Have you ever dreamed of winning the lottery? I have and I don’t even play it! In fact, I have thought often about what I would do with that kind of money. Whether it came from a sudden windfall (like the lottery) or even from a successful business endeavor – what would you do with a huge sum of money?

Failed Previous Winners?

Certainly, when you look at the stories of many of those who HAVE won the lottery, it is sad to see how it has so often destroyed the winners. So many lottery winners have had a short and wild ride, but then end up in worse financial condition than they were in before the lottery paid them.

Reasons For Failure

There are many reasons for this, I am sure. One, they are not trained in how to handle such large sums of money. Another reason may be that with their additional income, they likely see themselves in another “class” of people. They feel they have to spend more to keep up with these people.

I am sure they also underestimate how expensive the higher class lifestyle can be. The more expensive house comes with higher property taxes, higher utilities and maintenance costs, etc. The expenses begin to snowball before they even realize what has happened.

An obvious reason is likely that they are not focused on what God would have them do with the money. While some are charitable to a point, many spend more of their time trying to protect their wealth from anything or anyone that may threaten it rather than seeing how they could give more.

It Would Be Different!

If you have ever thought about what you would do if you won the lottery, then you have likely told yourself you would never let those things happen to you, right?

You have probably said, like I have, that you would first tithe on the winnings. Then you would probably plan to give away a huge portion of the lottery winnings to other organizations. I have picked out several mission organizations that would benefit from my lottery winnings.

Debts Gone!

You likely determined that the next amount would be carved out to pay off all of your debt. Then, you would probably be determined not to let that debt get so high ever again. If you cannot afford something with your new lottery winnings, then you just won’t buy it!

You have also probably said that you would never allow your expenses to outrun your winnings – even unexpected expenses. You probably decided, like I did, that you would carve out another portion for savings – to be used in the event of an emergency. This is just smart thinking, right?

Avoid the “Jones'” Trap!

I would also bet you thought about how you would not allow yourself to fall into the trap of trying to keep up with others (the Jones’) who had similar or greater incomes. In fact, you have probably determined that this winning would not really change who you are or how you live today (for the most part).

Finally, if you are like me, you probably decided you would set aside some of the money for those small, unpredictable times when someone you know is in need. You would want to be able help those around you when they come upon a crisis and with your newfound wealth, that should not be a problem.

What Else?

If I have left anything out, please let me know in the comments. Otherwise, stay tuned for the next post where we look at what I think we SHOULD do if we were to win the lottery. You may have some idea of where I am headed with this…we’ll see!

Have you thought about this?

What thoughts would you add?

What would you offer for our next post’s discussion?