For the
past week or so, my Facebook feed was filled with posts and memes about the
Powerball lottery. I couldn’t help but think about how I’ve already won the lottery. Yes, you read that right. I’ve already won the lottery. I won the
lottery when I was “chosen according the foreknowledge of God the Father,
through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and
sprinkling by his blood” (1 Peter 1:2). I won the lottery when I responded to
the Holy Spirit’s work in my life and said, “Yes, Lord, I choose to serve you instead
of myself.” Okay, hopefully the one reading this has caught on to the fact that
I didn’t actually win a money lottery; but I won Jesus, and that is the best
lottery to win. In this post, I would like to continue to explain the
similarities (and some differences) between winning a money lottery and winning
the Jesus lottery. (I acknowledge that this is just an analogy, and it is an
imperfect one. Take whatever wheat there may be in it, and let the chaff be
blown away by the wind.)
In the
first place, not many people in this whole world will win a money lottery. It
is the same with the Jesus lottery. Matthew 7:14 says “small is the gate and
narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Knowing this, I
appreciate having won the Jesus lottery all the more.
Next, in
terms of the way that the money lottery is won and the way that the Jesus
lottery is won, there is one key difference, but some similarities. In order to
win the money lottery, one has to go out and buy a ticket. There’s effort
needed. Not so with the Jesus lottery. In John 3:1-21, Jesus has a conversation
with a Pharisee named Nicodemus. Jesus says to Nicodemus, “I tell you the
truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (v. 3). He
goes even further in verse 5 to say that “no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit”
[emphasis mine]. Think of a baby that is born naturally. Does he have anything
to do with his birth? Does she control when she will come out of her mother’s
womb? Of course not! Jesus summarizes this thought in verse 8, saying, “The
wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where
it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Instead of one having to go out and buy a ticket for the money lottery, the
Jesus lottery just happens. It is like walking along the street and having the
winning lottery ticket blown into your hand.
Yet, what
happens when one has the winning lottery ticket? Does one automatically get
money in the mail? No, one has to either mail in the winning ticket or go in
person. What if one doesn’t redeem the ticket? That person does not get any
money. The Jesus lottery is similar. When a person senses the Holy Spirit
working in his life, he has the choice of saying, “Yes, Lord, I want You to
rule my life. I want to die to myself.” Or he can go on with his life and throw
away Jesus. When the Jesus lottery ticket blows into your life, will you be the
one to redeem the ticket or the one to throw the ticket in the trash?
Another way
that winning a money lottery is like winning the Jesus lottery is how it
affects all of life. When one wins
the lottery, one’s life changes, in that one can now afford a new house, a new
car, new clothes, etc. It wouldn’t make sense for someone who just won the
lottery to have a nice house but be unable to pay his doctor bills. (This
assumes that the person who won the lottery is somewhat responsible when it
comes to money management.) Just as lottery winnings overflow into all areas of
life, the Jesus lottery winnings do so as well. The Jesus lottery doesn’t make
bad people good, and it doesn’t make good people better. No! It makes dead
people alive, and this aliveness ought to flow into every area of one’s life.
If it doesn’t, I must be frank: I don’t think that you’ve actually won the
Jesus lottery. If the Jesus lottery only makes it so that you go to church on
Sundays and so that you’re a “generally good” person, you need to rethink
whether or not you’ve actually won the Jesus lottery.
Because of
the Jesus lottery, I have peace that comes from following God’s commands and
that comes from knowing that “in all things God works for the good of those who
love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Because
of the Jesus lottery, I have victory in mental health, whereas before dark and
suicidal thoughts had a stronghold in my mind. Because of the Jesus lottery, I
have a huge spiritual family, so I don’t have to be lonely, even if my own
family members were to ever reject me (Mark 10:29-30). Because of the Jesus
lottery, I have purpose in life and can give generously of my time and
resources to others. Because of the Jesus lottery, I have never-ending joy,
even when trouble comes. (And expect trouble if you win the Jesus lottery,
because Jesus declared in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble.”
But Jesus also goes on to say, “But take heart! I have overcome the world.”)
Because of the Jesus lottery, I work at Oakridge Christian Camp in Anadarko,
OK. Because of the Jesus lottery, all
of my life has changed.
At this
point, I wish to make one last clarification. I am not talking about Jesus as
the lottery ticket to heaven, although John 14:6 makes it clear that Jesus is “the way, the truth, the life”
[emphasis mine]. Heaven as a place would not be great by itself. It is great
because Jesus is there. Heaven isn’t the lottery winnings; it is Jesus! And God
so graciously lets us taste the goodness of Jesus here on earth as we submit to
Him in response to His love demonstrated for us on the cross. That is how I’ve
won the lottery!
