Lottery Winner

Imagine for a minute that you won the lottery. A huge lottery. Say 300 million dollars. You were the only winner. What do you think would happen. Family, friends, co-workers, even strangers will come flying out of the woodworks to get in on what little they could from you. These are people who never emailed you, visited you, talked to you, not even a once a week phone call. You weren't even worth the 40-something cents that it cost for a stamp to send you a letter. And now they want to share in your new found inheritance. You would probably be pretty insulted. Of course there would be true friends who were always around. You would share some of your winnings with those who were close to you the whole time, no problem. They would be those who stuck with you through thick and thin and the fact that you had won the lottery was irrelevant to their feelings for you. Now imagine you are on the other end. Someone who should have been your best friend the whole time is coming into some winnings. You however never talked to Him. You never spent time with Him. You never visited His house. You never even read His letters to you. Don't be surprised when He tells you on Judgment Day or the day of His return. 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' We are so blessed to have a God who has already attained victory on that Roman cross so many years ago. Yet so many people who name the name of Christ don't turn from their sin, they don't read their Word daily, they don't pray to Him, they don't share what a great friend that He is with those who don't know Him, they don't go to visit Him at his house and yet when Christ comes into the winnings that He attained all those years ago, all of those people will be right there with hands out. We need to stick with Jesus through the good times and the bad. He never promised us a bed of roses and then we go to Heaven. So many times people will turn from God because of some tribulation, not counting it as a blessing, yet still expect John 3:16 to be their catch all for their willful shortcomings. With the new year upon us, let's all make an effort to be friends with Jesus. Good friends. Not friends who are just waiting for Him to win the eternal "Lottery". Let's be friends who listen to His Word, friends who talk to Him, and friends who visit Him at His house. If you haven't treated Jesus like a true friend, use this new year as a fresh start in your walk with Jesus. Maybe listen to the True and False Conversions sermon here on this site. If you are faithful to Him in these things already, cling to Him. Don't leave your first love. None of us know the day or time, let's be ready. Let's be a true friend to Jesus. He is our true friend. He demonstrated that on the cross. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

John 15:15 (English Standard Version)

¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.