DAILY DEVOTIONAL – September 29, 2020
“Good Gains”
Prayer: God, you are the God of all good things. As Your word promises in James 1:17, “ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.” Lord strengthen our faith in Your provision and let us not look elsewhere for all that we need and desire. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6-19
“But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
Devotional: “Good Gains”
Have you ever wondered how you would live your life if money wasn’t a concern? If you never had to worry about affording the essentials in life, and even the luxuries of life, how would you live? Most people immediately think of all the things that they would buy to try and get the most out of life. Others think about all the investments they would make just to make even more money.
Back in 2016, The New York Daily News reported on the dark side of winning the Lottery. According to the report, it’s more likely you’ll get struck by lightning than win the Powerball — but if you do win, there is an even better chance that you’ll go broke, or worse.
Nearly 70% of Lottery winners end up broke within seven years. Edward Ugel, author of the book “Money for Nothing: One Man’s Journey Through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions,” tells of the thousands of Lottery winners he’s known, few were happy and only a small number lived happily ever after. “You would be blown away to see how many winners wish they’d never won,” Ugel said. Here are a few of those stories:
Abraham Shakespeare hit it big for $30 million in 2006, causing friends and family to hound him for money. He befriended a woman named Dorice Moore who deceived Abraham into entrusting her with protecting his money, and Abraham transferred his assets to her before he went missing in 2009. In 2012, Moore was sentenced to mandatory life without parole for killing Abraham. The sentencing judge called her “cold, calculating and cruel.”
David Lee Edwards – a former drug addict and felon – won a $27 million jackpot in 2001 while unemployed in South Florida. He quickly blew through the money by purchasing a $1.6 million house in Palm Beach Gardens, three racehorses, a fiber optics company, a Lear Jet, a limo business, a $200,000 Lamborghini Diablo and a multitude of other luxuries. He lost of all his money in just a few years, returned to drugs, and ended up living in a storage unit.
Jeffrey Dampier won $20 million in the Illinois Lottery before his own family turned against him. The millionaire showered his family with cash and gifts, but that just wasn’t enough for his sister-in-law, Victoria Jackson, who murdered Jeffrey with the help of her boyfriend.
In less than two years, another lottery winner, Bob Harrell, lost all of his $31 million winnings. Before committing suicide, he said, “winning the Lottery is the worst thing that ever happened to me.”
Friends, God has provided us with an eternity’s worth of riches in the blood of His Son Jesus, who through His death and resurrection has opened up not only the treasures of Heaven itself, but having reconciled us back to Himself by dying for our sins, God cares for our ever need now, today. We struggle with this truth only when we confuse what we want with what God in His perfect love and mercy knows we need; and what we do not need. As Philippians 4:19 says, “God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
You don’t have to have millions of dollars stashed away to live in the security of knowing your needs will be met. You can live your life now in the freedom and joy of knowing that because He has already given You the precious blood of His Son Jesus, and because He has already prepared a place for You in paradise, God will provide all that you need here in this life; when we need it and how we need it, and in His perfect way.
To think that any lack or amount of earthly riches or gain will make us truly happy, is to deceive ourselves and deprive ourselves of the eternal joy and satisfaction of God’s promised provision and the riches He has provided in Christ. There is no need to hedge your bets or take a gamble, Jesus Christ has already won the victory for us, paying for our eternal salvation and satisfaction with His own priceless blood, and has made us heirs with Him of the Kingdom of God.
As our Lord Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Hunger and thirst for righteousness my friends, knowing that God will satisfy. And remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
