The real question is not a matter of winning money, but what one does with what one possesses. In some respects, winning a lottery is the same as coming into an unexpected inheritance. The difference is, more often than not, people lust after the lottery win, whereas an unexpected inheritance is not the same as hanging out for someone to die, so the money can be spent.
The preacher of Ecclesiastes recognized the futility of some people having wealth (money and possessions); in particular, those who did not earn it themselves.
- So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind. I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me; and who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. (Ecclesiastes 2:17-19)
This is largely because throughout the eons of mankind’s habitation on Earth, people are basically the same. Unless a person is trained how to do something, the person is useless, incompetent and inept when it comes to executing what is required. Likewise, when it comes to money, those who do not understand financial responsibility have not been trained in its worth. Most people are impoverished not because they do not have money, but because they do not understand they need to be trained in order to be responsible with any filthy lucre they have the privilege of being a steward. Consequently, they blow their dough faster than wind can uproot a tree on a sunny day.
- Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle, but he who gathers little by little will increase it. (Proverbs 13:11)
What people need is appreciation for the practicalities of being responsible for what they possess; and the understanding how to apply themselves to making wise decisions with what is otherwise an obstacle to securing eternal life, if they are not circumspect regarding the wiles of the Evil One.
- Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun. (Ecclesiastes 7:11)
The same as wisdom is essential when one receives an inheritance, when receiving a large sum of money that could be a massive life-changer, one needs to appreciate personal responsibility is what really matters in all things. Otherwise what is suddenly got, quickly becomes someone else’s lot.
Jesus spoke of certain individuals, who forsake their family and their wealth for the sake of the gospel, receiving a hundredfold with persecution. This does not mean a person is going to receive 750 million dollars in a lottery, rather that a person has the responsibility of seeing to the welfare of those individuals. The film Its A Wonderful Life (starring James Stewart) illustrates this in a very powerful way.
The question is not a matter of whether one earns the money or not, rather whether one is responsible with the money one has got.
- He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? (Luke 16:10-12)
If a person has not learned how to be responsible with the world’s goods, that person is not going to be entrusted with God’s treasure. God treasures the people who come to Him; we who recognize the futility of this world and its ways. Many are the people who say that when they win the lottery they will then help the poor. However, the poor are those who do not recognize that riches are not of this world.
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