The Lottery Test

What would you do if you sud­denly came into a great deal of money? Stand around a con­ve­nience store where lot­tery tick­ets are sold and lis­ten to the con­ver­sa­tions about it — espe­cially when the lot­tery gets to be over one-hundred-million. It is a ques­tion I ask myself on occa­sion. Just think­ing about it brings a smile to my face, and then I begin to real­ize the real­i­ties of it. Not many peo­ple han­dle it con­struc­tively. A sig­nif­i­cant per­cent­age of lot­tery win­ners are broke in a year to eigh­teen months. Some even end up in jail or end­ing their own lives.
 
I like the lot­tery test. It is a fan­tasy that brings me full-circle. I real­ize that where I am and what I have been called to do is where I should be. Still, the test is worth tak­ing. It is also a way to tell what is miss­ing. Where would the money lead you? To a dif­fer­ent place to live? To new rela­tion­ships? If the answer is “yes” to either of these, you might want to do some pon­der­ing. Maybe your newly dis­cov­ered answer is what you need to begin to con­sider doing right now. Do you really want to spend your life just pay­ing the bills? Have you sold your­self short?
 
There is a bless­ing that comes with dis­con­tent. It has a way of shak­ing a per­son away from medi­oc­rity. It also has a way of get­ting you back into a jour­ney wor­thy of your skills and spir­i­tual capac­i­ties. We set­tle into com­fort zones all too eas­ily.
 
Jesus com­pared spir­i­tual real­iza­tion to the equiv­a­lent of win­ning the lot­tery. He told sto­ries about peo­ple stum­bling onto trea­sures. Their focus changes instantly. They go from the mun­dane to the intensely aware in a heart­beat. Dis­cov­er­ing how God works in the world is like win­ning the lot­tery. You grasp the bless­ings of con­tent­ment cou­pled with quest. Suddenly, what you once val­ued becomes worth­less. A strange detach­ment toward all of your for­mer wor­ries man­i­fests itself. Everything turns around.
 
Antic­i­pat­ing what Jesus called the “King­dom of God” will help. Beneath the sur­face of your life is a trea­sure beyond your wildest dreams. Get ready to receive it.