You see the signs almost every day. They promise multiplied millions of dollars if you can just hit the jackpot with a winning lottery ticket.
When you see those outlandish sums emblazoned on the billboards, do you dream about what your life would be like if it happened to you? What if it did? Would you suddenly become a better, happier person? Would all of your dreams come true? Would all of your problems be solved? Would you be guaranteed a long and happy life?
Several years ago a friend of mine, who is a bank executive in my hometown of Jackson, Tennessee, looked up from his desk. Through a glass window that looked out onto the lobby he saw an anxious couple. Both the man and the woman were wearing jeans and T-shirts. They were obviously from the hard working lower middle class. He quickly pegged them as being broke and desperately hoping for a loan. When his administrative assistant called asking if he had the time to meet with new customers, he reluctantly said that he did.
Within moments after receiving the couple in his office, all of the banker’s assumptions were dispelled. The couple had just won a $10 million lottery jackpot!
They were from a large city, about an hour’s drive from the small town bank. They had made the trip hoping to find a safe haven for their new riches; a place where they could deposit the money without anyone knowing. They were looking for a way to escape the glare of publicity and its certain complications.
As the baffled banker listened, the couple explained what seemed to be a logical plan for eluding the hazards that such a windfall brings in its train. They wanted to do this right, and it seemed that all of their dreams had just come true.
Now, put yourself in their place. What would you do if you won $10 million?
If asked that question by a television interviewer, most people would announce that their first intention was to give to their church or some charitable organization. In reality, this seldom happens. People say those things to picture themselves in the best possible light.
Within a few weeks after the newly rich couple had deposited their winnings in the small town bank, the news about their fortune leaked out in their community. That which they had feared came upon them. Everyone wanted a piece of their action. Their days and nights were spent fighting off the pitches of financial consultants, estate planners and insurance salesmen. Then they began getting calls from family members they had not known existed. This one needed a new car, another needed a loan. On and on it went.
In desperation, the couple tried to appease their clamoring family while satisfying themselves with the luxuries they had always dreamed about. After giving each member of their family what they saw as a generous allotment, they bought new cars for themselves. They bought a new house, then a second home in Florida. They secured the stuff they thought necessary to appear and feel that they had arrived.
However, the more they helped their family, the more their family wanted. As they continued to be bombarded with lavish requests, they watched their lives begin to spiral out of control. People they loved and really wanted to help were angrily arguing over who had received the most money.
As the storm raged around them, the couple started drifting away from each other. The wife spent more and more time away from her husband while he tried to hold things together. Then, the day came when she announced that she wanted out of their relationship.
Just 18 months after winning $10 million dollars, a broken man wept in the office of my friend, the banker. Slamming his fist onto the desk, he groaned, “I wish we had never won that lottery.”
Now, let me ask you again, “What would you do if you won $10 million?”
God is not really interested in how we answer that question. He is interested in what we are doing right now with what we already have.
We have to understand that we cannot cut deals with God. His principles are non-negotiable. We can say that we would do this or that if we just had better circumstances and more stuff. But, what really counts is what we are doing with what we have.
A wide canyon separates the United States of America from the rest of the world. We have only four percent of the world’s population, but we own and consume about 30% of the world’s produce. We consume more electricity, fuel and food products per person than any other country on the planet. Our dreams are based on consumption, power and money. For the most part, we are ruled by greed.
Why do we in America love money so much? We love it because it gives us a temporary fix to our addiction to control, power and influence. We love taking care of ourselves, and it is hard for us to see beyond ourselves. We believe we are better than other people because of what we have. We have bought into the lie that money and power will bring happiness. However, the reverse is really true.
For over 20 years, I have worked with people in poverty-stricken Third World countries. I am constantly amazed by what I find. In the poorest places, in the places where people have the least, I find those whose lives are overflowing with joy. They know Christ in deep intimate relationships. They have made the liberating discovery that nothing outside of Him can make them really happy; no person, place or possession…not even $10 million.
How does this happen?
Of ourselves, we cannot make it happen. We cannot will the greed and lust out of our hearts. By nature, we are controlled by an attitude of selfishness and rebellion. As a result, our hearts are deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). We must have new hearts (Ezekiel 36:26). All we can bring to God is our broken selves. We must come to the end of ourselves and come to Him just as we are. Drawn by the Holy Spirit, there must be an “about face” in our lives. We need total transformation (John 3:3). We need to have a new direction and focus. Everything within us needs to be realigned (2 Corinthians 5:17). We need to be delivered from our addictions to money, power and control. We need to be addicted to Christ, controlled by Him (Ephesians 5:17).
There can only be one priority in your life (Matthew 6:24). Christ must occupy that place. He takes that place, the throne in your heart, when you come to the end of yourself and submit to Him.
Jesus said, “Do not be called masters…because you have one Master, the Messiah.” (Matthew 23:10, HCSB)
When Christ becomes your Priority, you are on the right path. Then, everything and everyone gives way to Him (Galatians 2:20).
Out of this relationship with Christ, I have discovered my own personal mission. It is summed up in these words, “Seek not the powerful and the privileged, nor admire the rich and famous, but search for the poor and needy and you will find the power of God.”
God’s kingdom operates in ways that are radically different from the world’s values and laws. In the world, one plus one equals two. In the Kingdom of God, one plus one can equal 100 or even more. God can multiple what is yielded to Him and cause it to expand at an incomprehensible rate. He uses the weak to shame the strong (I Corinthians 1:28).
Will you allow the trials and heartaches, the storms of life, to bring you into a vital relationship with Christ? Will you yield yourself to total dependence on Him? Will you let Him realign and adjust your worldview to His own? Will you submit and allow Him to reign in your life as Lord?
As Christians, we gain by losing. The smaller we become, the greater He becomes in and through us.
Jesus said, “Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it.” (Matthew 10:39, HCSB)
Would that new luxurious home ultimately make you happy? Would a career promotion, that meant spending less time with your family, really result in fulfillment and satisfaction?
Personally, I have had to stop, take an inventory, look deep within myself, examine my motives and ask if I am really allowing Christ to radically touch a lost world through me. As I struggle to be set free from the grip of materialism, I am arrested by the gravity of Jesus’ command, “Go…and make disciples.” (Matthew 28:19a, HCSB)
You may say, “If I won $10 million dollars, I would give most of it to God.”
You could do that and still not give God what He wants. He wants more than any material thing you can give Him. He wants your heart fixed completely on Him.
People usually view submission as a loss of power. With true submission to God the authentic person that God intended us to be is set Free to grow. We are made in His image and therefore are happier when our minds are off ourselves and on helping others. We need to give God all the credit because the goodness in us is a reflection of Him!
Bernadette
Posted by: Bernadette faulkner | December 27, 2010 at 11:09 PM