Big Money: Should Christians Play The Lottery?

No one can serve two masters. Either he will

hate the one and love the other or, he will be

devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money

Matthew 6:24

When one thinks about becoming an overnight millionaire, so many fantasies come to mind. Where we'll move to, what cars we'll buy, the kind of house we'll live in, the businesses we'll start, etc. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with thinking these things. Who wouldn't want a few extra digits in their bank? Especially in the park of around 7 digits? How do we get there though? There's well over 300 million people living in the states. According to DQYDJ there are over 14 million millionaires in America. That's A little less than 5% of the entire population. Most get there through investments, stocks and bonds. Others through entrepreneurship, grinding and hard work. We all work hard (most of us anyway) and unfortunately many of us live paycheck to paycheck. Many of us don't know a single thing about the stock market, how to invest and to get a raise from our employers sometimes is like pulling teeth. So why not play the lottery? Is not bad is it?

And it only cost me a second mortgage! 

So no where in the scripture is gambling necessarily mentioned. Paul wasn't buying scratch off tickets between sermons. However the bible does discuss the constant pursuit of money for the sake of being wealthy. I've said it before, there's nothing wrong with having a lot of money or things. I even encourage my youth to strive for financial security but there's always an asterisk to that statement. We
have to be careful not to let the idea of easy riches pull us away from God. No, it's not a sin to buy a lottery ticket a few times out of the year. A waste of money? Probably. A sin? not so much. However the spirit of greed can easily manifest itself and being that many lottery games are relatively cheap (depending on what your playing) you can easily buy yourself into a financial rut rather than a palace.

There's a 1/175,000,000 chance of you winning the Powerball

Sometimes people play religiously because some are addicted to thrill of almost winning (similar to a slot machine in a casino). That's really how a lot of these games work. They sell you tickets with ALMOST winning numbers and you adhere to the thought "Man! almost had it!...lemme try one more time." Even something as simple as the claw machine in stores can make you spend extra quarters when you see you "almost" had that stuffed bunny. I say this. If you've taken care of your responsibilities; bills are paid, food is in the fridge, clothes are clean, etc than there's no harm in buying a ticket for a chance at financial freedom. However to the most of us who may never see a million dollars I encourage you (and even include myself) to ask God to help you be a better steward of your money and practice better saving habits. You may not be a millionaire but you'll have a few extra bucks to have some fun with. Be smart with your money family and if you're gonna play, play responsibly and good luck. If you win just know I always believed in you and if you wanna donate to me I humbly except cash, credit, debit and papyal.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem call the National Helpline at 1-800-522-4700

- William

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