Unclaimed Prizes

There was quite a bit of chatter going on this past week about the possibility a $63 Million Dollar lottery prize would go unclaimed.  My daughter in law wondered out loud, “Can you imagine finding out you had the winning ticket only to be told you waited too long to claim your winnings.  That would be awful; just think about how you’d feel.”

The idea of missing out on something that big would upset most folks; but then I got to thinking about it from a different angle.  What if you never found out?  The winning numbers were picked; but you never bothered to see if they matched the ticket you purchased; how bad would you feel since you never knew how much money you missed out on?  For all you knew the only money you lost was the two dollars spent on the ticket.

Life is like that for most folks; but this has nothing to do with purchasing a lottery ticket.

Mortality is the ticket we purchased to prove ourselves, to make ourselves eligible for all that God has.  Interestingly, each ticket purchased is a winner; the only losers are those that are not claimed.

Admittedly there are some qualifiers in order to claim your prizes; but rest assured, you did purchase a winning ticket the moment you accepted the Great Plan of Salvation.

Some folks don’t even know who they are as they go through the challenges of life.  Oh, they might know their parents, grandparents and even a long list of ancestors going back hundreds of years; but do they really know they are children of our Heavenly Father?  Do they understand their royal lineage makes possible an inheritance beyond our ability to grasp?

We are created in His image and, in due time, we’re expected to figure out how to behave according to the commandments and other instructions given via the scriptures and servants of the Lord.  Upon successful completion of our probationary period we are promised all that he has; if that’s not greater than any lottery prize then I don’t know what would impress you.

Once you’ve figured out you’re holding the winning ticket; will it alter the way you approach life?  I would certainly hope so. 

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.