Dare 2 Share - Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)
So this guy buys a ticket and wins the lottery. He then goes to claim it where the man verifies his ticket number.
The man says "I want my $20 million."
To which the lottery official replies, "Sorry, sir. It doesn't work that way. We give you a million today, and then you'll get the rest spread out for the next 19 years."
The man then says, "Oh, no. I want all my money RIGHT now! I won it, and I want it."
Again the official patiently explains that he would only get a million that day and the rest during the next 19 years.
The man, furious with the official, screams out, "Look, I WANT MY MONEY!! If you're not going to give me my $20 million "right now," THEN I WANT MY DOLLAR BACK!!
Have you been asking Jesus for your dollar back lately? What I mean is, like that lottery winner- we sometimes just don’t get it.
In many ways, getting saved is like winning the lottery. Through no effort of our own, we suddenly become spiritually wealthy beyond our wildest imagination. We have been delivered from the destiny of hell, and we have a restored relationship with the God who made us. All sin- past present and future have been forgiven. We have been made a part of a new family, and we have Someone to divide our sorrows and double our joys.
If you even contemplate these truths for half a moment, you realize that no earthly lottery even compares to what believers have been given because of Christ’s death and resurrection.
But we have to remember that even though we are entitled to all these blessings, God delivers them to us one day at a time- not all at once. We received eternal life when we trusted Christ- now we have to be patient and allow God to do His perfect work by giving us the daily bread of meeting our needs.
I guess that’s not good enough for some people. They want God to be the cosmic Mr. Fix It…so when winning the spiritual lottery fails to clean up all the life size messes they made, they come screaming back to God that they want their investment back.
Now hear me well- I don’t support buying lottery tickets. I also know that God will never take back what we were given at salvation. My point is that we miss out on so many things that God wants to give us simply because we do not have the patience. We get in such a hurry to enjoy all the benefits of salvation because we are too self-absorbed to see the big picture.
Here’s the big picture: for some reason, God designed life to be lived one day at a time. He will complete the work He began in you, but you need to slow down and quit demanding everything at once.
Is your life a mess? Give it to God- He may not make overnight changes, but He will do exactly what needs to be done in His time. Are you discouraged? Hold on- because your encouragement check is in God’s postal system.
This week, consider if you have been guilty of the same lack of wisdom and abundance of impatience as the lottery winner in the story. Let go of that little dollar you call anxiety, and start watching for the blessings to roll in!
Questions:
1) How often to you reflect on all the amazing blessings God has given you?
2) What in your life is bringing you anxiousness and/or depression right now?
3) What do you need to turn over to God so that He can bring more blessings your way?
