Have you ever bought a lottery ticket? If the lottery involves picking 6 numbers between 1 and 99, the odds of winning are 1 in 1,120,529,256. Even knowing the near certainty of losing, many people continue to play. Studies show that poor people play more often, with the hopelessness of poverty pushing people to attempt to improve their condition. In that manner, it is a legal tax on the poor. The saddest aspect of the lottery, though, is that most people who win the mega-millions find that it changes their lives negatively.
When we play the lottery, we have no control over the luck or fate that will have the correct numbers pop up in our favor. But each of us has the ability to win a more important lottery and we have plenty of control in that lottery. Have you ever considered the value of eternal life in heaven?
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7
Our frail, human minds have great difficulty grasping eternity. Even our lives on this earth seem like they last a long time, though when an 85-year-old is preparing for death, he often thinks about the brevity of the time he spent here. After 1 million of those 85-year time periods in heaven, we will be no closer to the end, as there is no end. Some people have a faulty concept of heaven, picturing us as sitting around on clouds playing harps. They erroneously think that we will get bored after a time. The verse above should remind us of how incredible heaven is going to be! “In the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Personally, I think Jesus has been incredibly kind to me on this earth. He chose me to serve Him, though all I deserved was death. “Why me,” is a constant question, and the answer has nothing to do with my redeeming qualities. Without Him, I am unredeemable; I am a clanging cymbal; I am nothing! So instead of the riches of the world, I have obtained the riches of His mercy and grace.
Do you truly want to win the lottery? Then accept Jesus into your life as your Lord and Savior. He doesn’t promise abundance while on the earth, but you certainly will have abundant life with Him for all of eternity!
No comments:
Post a Comment