“You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” – Revelation 3:17
Lisa Arcand of Lawrence, Massachusetts was a single mother when she won $1 million in the lottery in April 2004.
Soon after winning, Arcand said she was aggressively pursued by Stone Street Capital, a financial services company that offered her a lump sum of money up front in return for all or a portion of her $35,000-a-year lottery proceeds.
“They call people who hit the lottery and offer to buy the ticket off you,” she said. “The offer was less than half the cash value. But I sold a piece of it — $15,000 a year, and I got $200,000 up front.”
The up-front money helped her buy some of the things she’d never been able to afford, but it also put her in a higher tax bracket, leading to a further erosion of her winnings.
She took the lump sum from her winnings and bought a house and new furniture, went on a couple of vacations, enrolled her son in Central Catholic School and opened a restaurant.
Then reality struck.
The restaurant failed and she lost all of her savings less than four years after striking it rich.
“I emptied my savings to get this place,” she said. “Now I’m behind on my bills.”
“Winning the lottery is not all it’s cracked up to be,” said Arcand. “Actually, it’s been very depressing.”
Money does not make us rich. Knowing Jesus Christ makes us truly wealthy. Today in prayer, confess any sin that takes your heart away from Jesus and seek Him in all that you do.
“Temporal prosperity is very unfavorable for spiritual development.” – Charles Simeon
God’s Word: “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.” – 1 Timothy 6:9
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