Mega Millions

Sally: "If you won the lottery, do you think all that money would change you?"
Bob: "Nah! I'd be just the same, except I wouldn't work anymore, I'd buy a new house, new car, and travel the world. But I'd be the same person." 
...

For a time, I truly lamented the fact that I didn't win the lottery 3 weeks ago. You know, "the big one". I PRAYED to win that lottery (along with millions of others). I mean, for years I've dreamed of winning the lottery--as that's what happens when you're an accountant. I had fantasized about it so much, that I knew the exact manner in which the the circumstance of my winning would unfold:

1. Pure Unadulterated Crazy Joy - This is part carnal/part spiritual. There is like a part of me that will be doing the Moonwalk, and another part that will be slain by the Holy Spirit because I will be thanking and praising that hard. If you believe in the cessation of spiritual gifts...my antics would give you pause. You'd think: "is that tongues?!" And guess what...it would be!
   
2.  The Cover-Up - I would be the anonymous winner. NO ONE will know that I am rich. No one (muah ha ha). This is not so I can hoard money, but rather so that I can still live a normal life...and hoard money.
   
   
3. The Payoffs - Goodbye student loans! Goodbye debts of any and all family members! They won't even know what happened (because of #2), just suddenly stuff will be paid! I don't need thanks, just the knowledge that folks are all right. Tithes? Offering? The hook-up of my favorite charities? Of COURSE.
   
   
4. The Business - After the payoffs, I would create an irrevocable trust for like half of the money, for posterity. Investments (some risky, some stable, a truly diverse portfolio which produces amazing interest) for half of the remaining half to support my needs. And the final piece of the remaining half will be spent on...
   
   
5. The Prodigal Life - Until recently, I thought "prodigal" meant someone who ran away (i.e. The Prodigal Son). I thought "prodigal" was related to how he left, but it's really about how he lived while he was gone. The Prodigal Life is financed by the amount of money that I have set aside for discretionary spending...AKA "riotous living." This includes houses, cars, private jets (if Mega Millions can afford me a small jet), exotic trips, my entourage...and the like.

It's a dream...probably with a lot of holes in it related to taxation and applicable laws, but dreams of this nature don't have to be rational. So don't hate. In any case, three weeks ago, when I was playing to win the $500+ million jackpot a certain thought gave me pause:

Rich people have a hard time depending on God...so maybe I don't want to be rich. 

I am in no way trying to come off at some righteous goody two-shoes. But I was reacting to what I knew to be my five-step plan. It had some issues. The issue is that it was a plan. A plan for my life, and the life of others without any true consultation of God. In the plan, I give to charity and the church, but I also plan to 1) stockpile a certain amount; 2) lie by omission to every single person I meet forever; and 3) live a life of total chill/ease while there is suffering in the world. It all made me think of scripture:

 “Two things I ask of you, LORD;
   do not refuse me before I die:

Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
   give me neither poverty nor riches,
   but give me only my daily bread.

Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
   and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
   and so dishonor the name of my God. 

- Proverbs 30:7-9

I have a loose belief...that money could possibly make everything better. I'm not a "paper chaser" or someone who is obsessed with the market and IRAs/401ks/etc. However, sometimes I think money can fix a situation, so...I pray for more money. Yet, the Proverb writer--the writer of wisdom--is asking for a set amount of money. He's asking for "enough". And not enough for extravagant vacays and beautiful clothes, and an array of sparkly clutches. But enough to eat. In each case, having too much or too little affects the level of faith he has in God.

• If he has too much: he doesn't believe he needs Him anymore. 
• If he has too little: he doesn't believe he can afford to wait on Him anymore. 
  
  

Both of the above are spiritual issues that are linked to a carnal situation: the possession of money. Which is why "the love of money" is such a problem. If I didn't love money, those wouldn't be problems. When you don't love money, having lots of it is cool, but having none is okay too. It in now way affects how you treat God. But the Proverb writer knows himself so well in this situation that it affects his prayer life. He's praying to his faith level: Lord, this is what I need to be able to serve you...right now. And this is what I need you to keep away from me, so I can serve you right now.  Some people can't handle fortune. Some people can. Based on the list above...maybe I'm in the former category. Maybe I love the thought of money, and that could lead to the "love of money."

Whoever loves money never has money enough; 

whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. 

This too is meaningless. 

- Ecclesiastes 5:10

I like to link things together. If in the Proverb, the lack of "enough" leads to criminal activity which dishonors God, and if in Ecclesiastes, the lover of money never has "enough"...then the lover of money will probably always dishonor God.

But it goes beyond money. It goes to our obsessions, and to our inability to serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). If it's not money that's affecting your ability to serve God...what is it? What is your hang-up? And how do you pray for God to remove it from your grasp?


Just thoughts...