The following email came to us from Carmen, who says,
"We are discussing at home whether it is right to buy lottery tickets.
I cannot see the problem with only buying one ticket?
This is our reply:
Dear Carmen,
It is not so much the act itself, but the purpose, the mind-set that leads to the act, that is important. If you put a few bob on a horse to have an entertaining interest in the outcome of the race, there is not much wrong with that. But if you back heavily, and desperately, to win, you are looking not to God for your succour, but to something else. In effect, you have then let go of God’s hand. You will be demonstrating that you do not have perfect Trust in your Heavenly Father to supply all your needs.
Yes, you may have waited for a very long time for his Help to come into materialization in your life and circumstances, and you may have become desperate, but the very act of gambling should tell you clearly why this long-desired outcome has not yet demonstrated in your life.
So, to answer your question directly: it is not wrong to buy a ticket. What would be wrong, would be to do it because we think we might be able to hurry God up, that we are giving Him a chance to help us through gambling, so that we may quickly gain the material supply we crave. It means we have will forgotten the truth that we, of ourselves, are helpless. It is only through Spirit Within that our lives and destinies are shaped and guided.
However, who is to say that God is not present everywhere, even in a lottery ticket?
With God, we are all-powerful and all that God has, is ours also – materially, spiritually and emotionally. Without total Trust in God, we entrust our lives to chance and then Mammon becomes our god, as symbolized by that lottery ticket.
Andre
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