What If You Won the Lottery?

Powerball recently announced that the lottery is expected to reach $1.7 billion, which is the largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history! 

A news reporter interviewed people on the street and asked, "What would you do if you won the lottery?" People rattled off all the things they would buy. "A new sports car for every day of the week." "A mansion in the Caribbean." One guy thought about his church first and answered, "I would buy the church all new Bibles." 

Most church members would hopefully answer something like this, "I would tithe first, then..." but would we really? 

I had to even question myself. Truthfully, it is hard to say what I would do in that situation since I've never won!

I had a conversation with my friend Tom who is someone I truly respect and someone I believe deals well with wealth. 

Tom said, "Travis, God blessed my company to gross $62 million last year. What do you think my base salary is?" 

Trying to be funny, I guessed "$62,000." He said "Close, $70,000." 

I asked, "What did you do with the rest?" 

Tom said, "We give most of it back to God for kingdom building. We decided a long time ago that we would not continue to increase our lifestyle. We have a very blessed but simple life." "What about buying cars, vacations, etc.?" Tom said, "Sure I think about buying a luxury car but the opportunity cost for me is too great. There is so much more that can be done in the kingdom with that money." 

I sat there puzzled. Tom sensed the flurry of questions that were flying through my brain and asked me, "Travis, how do you use money today?" This question puzzled me even more! 

Tom explained, "If you use every penny you get to increase your lifestyle now, then you would do the same if you had $600 million. If you are generous now toward God and are committed to being a good steward over your current income then you will do the same when God blesses you with more." 

Now this made perfect sense to me! As much as we think we would be different if we had more money the Bible tells us the opposite.  

Luke 16:10 says, "Whoever can be trusted with little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much." 

That's why there are countless stories of lottery winners who find themselves broke only within a few years of winning. 

It doesn't matter how much money you make, if you're not a wise steward with it. 

God knew He could trust Tom with much because he was faithful with little and so He has blessed him in extraordinary ways. 

For many of us, God is providing a billion dollar winning lottery ticket that pays out 10 dollars at a time. Jesus said in Luke 16:11, "If you are not faithful with money, how can you be trusted with true riches?"  

A good test is to ask ourselves, "How will I use my lottery winnings, 10 dollars at a time?"