Winning the lottery offers an immediate cure for all of our worries. Or for those of us not into gambling, a close friend or relative winning the lottery and giving us a nice piece of the lottery pie would work just as well. These thoughts are subtle temptations to doubt the value of God’s word.
The truth is you already have a gift that is literally worth more than millions dollars! That gift is the Bible. I know this sounds idealistic, spiritual, but not practical. However, it is vital not to miss the obvious illustrations that the Bible provides to show how practical it is. For example look at Psalm 119:72:
“The law from your mouth is more precious to me
than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.”
One translation says the amount should be stated as millions in gold and silver. Okay, it is fair to ask, “how is this practical? I can’t mail bible verses in for my mortgage payment.” That is true. But here is a practical truth about money that few outside of the financial world realize:
Money in and of itself has no value. Money only has value in what you can acquire with it. Money is a commodity, a piece of property, that only has value in what it can be exchanged for.
You can’t eat a $100 bill or a gold coin for supper. But you can exchange them for food. The rich fool in Luke 12 had plenty of money, but it was of no value to him, because he could not use it to acquire another day of life.
Winning the lottery will not make your life better. It will only help you acquire more things.
The Holy Spirit, in the passage above, is telling you that his word is more valuable than any amount of money in your bank account. He is telling you in plain language that you already have more than you need to address the problems in your life. How much more practical can the Bible be?
Yes, you still have to pay the mortgage and buy food for supper. But the Scripture is what tells you what is truly important in life. The Bible tells you that your relationships with your family and your God are secured by heart investments, not financial ones.
To borrow from a popular commercial, ‘What’s in the wallet of your heart?”