(RT) Powerball - $605M! (Random Thoughts)

I’m a Christian and I play the lottery. (Gasp!) Well, there go my 2 subscribers. (joking)

I play the lottery for the same reason I buy a ticket to a football game, rent a movie, or pick up a book for a flight – its entertainment. Do I think I’ll ever win $100M? No. Does that mean I’ve wasted my $2? Probably, yes. Have I sinned and backslidden? There was a time when I would have said yes, but my attitude towards “why” I play the lottery has changed – and so has my answer. In case you are wondering, the two are directly related.

Proverbs 30:7-9 captures my prayer well. 7 “I ask two things from you, Lord. Don’t refuse me before I die. 8 Keep me from lying and being dishonest. And don’t make me either rich or poor; just give me enough food for each day. 9 If I have too much, I might reject you and say, ‘I don’t know the Lord.’ If I am poor, I might steal and disgrace the name of my God.”

I’ve done the research, as have thousands of other people. The Bible never explicitly addresses playing the lottery or gambling; however, it does address the attitudes and beliefs that underpin such actions. Things like the “love of money” and “luck” or “fate” are representative of idols and a rejection of the divinity of God. So if you play the lottery because you expect to hit it big one day, then the act could very well be a sin. It’s about expectations and attitude.

I cannot control the numbers any more than I can control the spin on Gerrit Cole’s curveball or the height of Dez Bryant’s leap. But I still watch to see if Jim Edmonds knocks it out of the park or if Rogers-Cromartie intercepts Dak’s pass. It’s about attitude and God’s place in my life. I’ll never win the Powerball, but I like to see how close my numbers were.

So, God, give me just enough for each day.