Winners or Losers

TITLE: Winners or Losers
DATE: January 8, 2018
TEXT: Jer. 29:11-13 (ESV) - For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Lucky, or unlucky? That’s the question.
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Is the following person lucky? There are many who would say, “Yes.” Here’s why….

• Last year a customer went into the Picnic Basket store located on Ann Arbor Road in Plymouth, Michigan.
• The customer bought a ”Lucky-For-Life” lottery ticket.
• His ticket had five numbers: 15-18-25-31-35
• Those were the five numbers which came up on the Lottery drawing’s five, white balls.
• That meant the ticket owner became the winner of a prize which gave him $25,000-a-year for the rest of his life.

Now that prize of $25,000-per-year certainly doesn’t make the winner the luckiest, or richest, lottery winner of 2018. On the other hand, an extra $25,000 a year is nothing to sneeze at or ignore…or forget about. Which apparently is what happened. 

You see, the winner of that lottery had one year to claim his prize. The person who bought that ticket in Michigan did not do so. As a result, his prize winnings have been given to the State’s School Aid Fund.

Which is why many would agree when I say, “This individual is incredibly unlucky. Now it would be great if this fellow was one-of-a-kind. It would be great, but he isn’t one-of-a-kind. His story, on a religious level, is constantly being repeated.
Here’s what I mean.

2,000 years ago Jesus Christ ,God’ Son, came into this world to be our Savior. It was a job He did extraordinarily well. He fulfilled the law and the prophecies made about the Messiah. He rejected the temptations of Satan and  the world, and then He carried our sins to the cross, where He died for us. His third-day resurrection from the dead proves His work has been accepted and now all who are brought to faith in Him are saved.

Which makes believers very blessed.

Sadly, there are many millions of people out there who remain unaware and unbelieving. From the Lord’s perspective, everything is in place for them to be forgiven and saved. Unfortunately, without Holy Spirit given faith this wonderful “prize” of eternal life remains unclaimed.

Which makes unbelievers very much to be pitied and leads me to say:

1. If I knew the winner of that unclaimed ”Lucky-For-Life” lottery ticket, I would tell them to collect their winnings.
2. If I know someone for whom Jesus lived, died and rose, but who doesn’t believe, I would urge them to take a good hard look at all they are losing.

It seems to me that would be the least I could do to help the Lord turn a lost soul into a saved recipient of salvation.  

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, today I pray for all those who are unsaved. May the Holy Spirit’s work on them be effective in 2019… and may I do all I can so the lost might become saved and those in darkness could be brought into the light. In Jesus Name I ask it. Amen.

Today’s devotion was inspired by various articles, amongst which is the one written by Ben Hooper for the UPI on December 26, 2018. Those who wish may check out this link which was, at the time of writing, fully active: www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/12/26/25000-a-year-lifetime-lottery-prize-about-to-expire/6991545847724/#ixzz5azZTmJlB

The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann, one of my long-ago confirmands. He is singing with three brothers. This song comes from the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html