Lotto
He who tills the land will have plenty of food, but he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty. Proverbs 28:19
Empty Pursuits – What’s the most important goal in your life? If you’re like 81 percent of today’s American young people, that answer is obvious – getting rich. A recent survey returned overwhelming evidence that getting rich is the top priority, followed by being famous. That means that 8 out of every 10 people between 18 and 25 will reject the Bible’s plan for success – a long labor of love within the divinely appointed order of the universe.
This shouldn’t be surprising. More people buy lottery tickets as a way of hoped-for riches than the number of people who start productive enterprises. Officially sanctioned gambling just feeds the American preoccupation with wealth. If Angelina can spend $50,000 on a wedding dress, why can’t I? I dream of Jeanie in order to have my fantasies fulfilled. God has nothing to do with it.
Proverbs slaps us into reality with the word reyq. If you were Jewish, you might shudder over this one. Empty, worthless, of no value, morally depraved or taken away are all within the range of reyq. Just think of it like this – chasing wealth with hasty schemes will wreck your life. It’s not just worthless ventures. It’s the disregard for God’s sovereign order and your place in it. If there is one thing that is abundantly clear in Scripture, it is this: you are not in charge! To pursue your own desires without directives from the Lord is the height of foolishness. Proverbs tells us the prescribed inevitable end of such effort – a fate worse than death for the one who wants to be rich – consignment to poverty.
The hard reality is that the vanity of pursuing money is not confined by economic classes. You can be rich and want more. You can be poor and want more. It really doesn’t matter. If you are not content with God’s placement in your life, and if you are not seeking His counsel and wisdom on your choices, then, rich or poor, you will end up destitute – of His favor and of human success. Not a single rich man entered the grave wealthy.
God believes in hard work. Oh, how that must strike at our lazy souls. God never intended men and women to live in an all-inclusive resort. Even in the Garden there were jobs to do. Hard work is the divine road to human fulfillment. The work ethic is alive and well in heaven. But sin has corrupted even our motivation for fulfillment. Just as Satan tempted Jesus with the possibility of an “easier” way, so he comes to us, in the form of the world’s blueprint for success, and suggests that there is a short-cut to riches. We are warned. Work is good for you. Take the long road.
