Well, it’s over. The 1.6 billion dollar lottery has three winners. Millions of people, who bought a ticket, can now stop dreaming. (For now.) For two dollars, less than the cost of a small (excuse me – Venti) Starbucks coffee, people had dreams and hopes. It was less than renting a movie from your cable company, which only lasts two hours. Before you write to me explaining the evils of gambling, let me just say this. For many millions it wasn’t gambling as much as it was the price of a few days of extravagant, over-the-top dreaming. People thought about friends and relatives whose lives they would change. They thought of helping the church or school down the street. Oh, yes, I am romanticizing because there also were many greedy people thinking about themselves. But I think the greedy were outweighed by those who really did think about the good things they would do. (I like the Pollyanna view of life.) It was a two dollar dream. It wasn’t so much gambling as it was an investment in supposed happiness. I said supposed because winning has the potential to be a disaster, as it has for other lottery winners.
When I tell people about Jesus many of them accept Him for some of the same reasons people buy a lottery ticket. Jesus is the source of over-the-top dreaming. To give Jesus my expiring life for a chance of receiving a life that will never run out is a better deal than two dollars for 1.6 billion. “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” (Jim Elliot) Usually it takes some time being with Jesus for people to realize they aren’t taking a chance. With Jesus it is a sure thing
Written by Roger Bothwell on January 15, 2016
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org