Friday, July 26, 2013

Lottery Winners


Proverbs 13:11
I have become more and more skeptical about financial matters as I have grown older. I don’t trust the government or Wall Street to be honest about money. Both seem to be working on a complicated shell game, where some people with money get more of it. Then the government takes it and gives it away to those who have done nothing to deserve it. I don’t understand!
Anytime someone makes a disproportionate amount of money for the product or service they have created, and then keeps the majority of it, I struggle. Get rich quick schemes are equivalent to stealing.
People who can’t manage small amounts of money can’t manage large amounts of money. Take a look at professional athletes. They go from a high school or college to making millions of dollars. They never learned to handle their lunch money, let alone millions. Houses and parties later, it is gone.
Justin Bieber has been in the news lately, not for his music, but for his irresponsible behaviors. At 19 he owns a car that only a handful of people on the planet can afford. He hasn’t earned it. It has been handed to him. And he never learned to be responsible.
There is something to be said for people who manage their money well over years. They may not be as rich as some, but they know the value of money. They have put it in its place. It is just a means of storing our labor for future expenses.
The history of Lottery winners is well known. Winners have nothing in a few short years. The millions have disappeared in irresponsible financial decisions. They couldn’t be trusted with money before they gambled, what makes us think they could handle it after winning!
Let’s learn to be responsible with what we have.