What does “luck” mean? Luck is “good things that happen to you by chance”.
Due to the “hope” of winning thousands or millions of pounds many people spend hard-earned money on a chance. And sometimes it works and for some it works out well but for many it does not. David and Kathleen Long, from Scunthorpe are the first people to scoop a £1m Lottery prize twice and go public about it. They won their first EuroMillions £1m in 2013 and the second £1m in 2015 and so have beaten odds which a firm said was one in 283 billion. Of course, others have won far greater sums of money and some also more than once.
However, when people win, they experience a certain excitement because of the unexpected cash but after a while that excitement will fade away. Wealth is not the remedy that people fantasize that it will be. But people still keep buying tickets from hard earned money, hoping that the very slim chance of instant wealth will work for them but for many it does not work. I know someone who worked where Lottery tickets were sold. On one occasion a couple bought 40 £1 lottery tickets and came back the next week to claim two £10 wins!
But Actually, The Bigger Question Is What Are The Chances Of You Getting Lucky With God?
What are the chances of you going to heaven when you die? Would you say that your chances are better or worse than one in 283bn?
The chance of you getting lucky and ending up in heaven after you die is not one in 283bn or one in 283 trillion. God doesn’t spin a heavenly wheel to give out everlasting fortunes. God does not draw names out of a hat, nor roll a dice nor use any randomising process. Also, God has no arch-angels announcing His six winning numbers.
But deep-down-inside, are you confident that your good points may be more than your bad points and so you will get to heaven? Are you keeping your fingers crossed, and perhaps faintly hoping that God’s final assessment of your life will uncover something that will somehow give you permission to go to heaven?
That Therefore Raises The Question Of What Is God’s Basis To Allow People Into Heaven?
God says in His Word, the Bible, in Galatians 3:10 “… for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” So, if you have perfectly fulfilled all that God requires of you, then you have every chance of going to heaven. However, have you perfectly obeyed all that God says? Forget society’s standards for society is not the final judge of your life. If you are honest with yourself the answer is that you have not kept all that God requires and so you are under God’s curse because of your wrong thoughts, words and deeds which God calls sin. Ecclesiastes 7:20 “For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.”
But Could You Get Lucky With God After You Die?
There is no record in the Bible that after you die, angels will be scanning the records of your life to try and find some good deed that might tip God’s scales in your favour. In fact, God never mentions that He has any weighing scales. However what God does say is in Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” “Man” is used as a general word to include everyone. So please understand this statement that there is not even one least chance of you getting lucky with God after you die.
You May Ask, “So Is There Any Hope About The Life After Death?”
The answer is a marvellous “Yes” but it has nothing to do with luck. Hope can be gained during this life about the exceedingly wonderful life and riches after death. These are received because of promises, decisions and acceptance. It has nothing to do with luck.
You are probably asking: Who has made the promises? Can He keep them? Even if He can keep them, will He keep them? What sort of promises are they?
Who Has Made The Promises?
Titus 1:2 “In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.” In Romans 15:13 God is called “the God of hope”. This means that God is the One Who has made promises and is the source of hope and gives hope to those who have trusted in Him.
Can God Keep His Promises?
Titus 1:2 “In hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie …” So, God is a person Who being without sin cannot lie and so can perfectly keep His promises.
Even If God Can Keep Them, Will He Keep Them?
Some Christians were being reassured about their faith in Christ through the last half of Hebrews 10:23 “He who promised is faithful”. The Christians have great reason to cling steadily to their hope because they were reminded that it is the God Who has made these promises Who is also faithful. He can and will keep His promises and so no one who trusts in Him will be disappointed.
What Is Being Promised?
So, God is presenting to you the definite hope of the gift of eternal, or everlasting, life. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is a far better hope and quality of life than the richest person on earth, who does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, now has or will have.
The Lord Jesus now gives the value of the whole world. He does not give it in monetary terms but He does compare it to people’s souls. Mark 8:36-37 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” What the Lord Jesus is revealing here is the lightness and low value of the whole world in comparison to your own soul.
However, what does it mean to lose your own soul? In the Gospel it means that someone goes to hell and not to heaven. Now even if there was some prospect of you being able to rule the whole world, then it will be of no profit at all if as a result you go to hell. Even trying to control a tiny bit of this world, which is a bait the devil might be offering you, is not worth it, if you consequently throw your soul away to hell and miss the life that is everlastingly true and worthwhile.
So, what is God promising? As well as receiving eternal life God is also promising other spiritual gifts, called blessings. This includes the total forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 4:32), of being right in God’s sight which is called justification (Romans 3:21-22; 5:1), being reconciled to God (Romans 5:10), of having peace with God (Romans 5:1; Colossians 1:20), salvation from hell and for heaven (Romans 1:16; Ephesians 1:13), becoming a child of God with God being a far better Father than you will have on earth (1John 3:1-2; Galatians 3:26). Also, a place in God’s heaven (John 14:2-3; 1Thessalonians 4:17) with bodies covered in glory forever (Philippians 3:21) with Christ’s joy continuing in us (John 15:11) and many other great spiritual gifts.
How Can These Spiritual Gifts Be Mine? … Because Of Decisions.
The first decision was made by God when He decided that He would make these wonderful spiritual gifts or blessings available to us. Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Here the Holy Spirit inspired writer is praising God for giving all spiritual gifts or blessings to him. We are told that it is through Christ in 1John 4:14 “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world.”
These everlasting spiritual gifts are available because the Lord Jesus made the decision that He would obey God and come into the world. 1Timothy 1:15 “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” Galatians 2:20b “… the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Jesus said John 12:46 “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide (or remain in) in darkness.” John 10:10 “I have come that they (those that believe in Him) may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While our sin kept us from being acceptable to God Christ died for us and in so doing, He took God’s punishment for our sins upon Himself. Jesus Christ was the only Person Who was holy, that is without sin, and so was the only Person Who could become the sin bearer and rise again from the dead.
The Third Stage Is Acceptance.
Will you accept what God says about you and your sin? He is speaking out of truth and love so that He can give you the spiritual gifts that He longs for you to receive. Self-improvement attempts, reforming your ways, or trying to collect good deeds are not a part of God’s salvation plan because you have also sinned. If you accept that you are a sinner before God, and repent of it (change your mind about continuing in it), and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for all that God’s salvation brings, then God says that He will accept you. This is seen in Ephesians 1:6 “… by which He (God v3) has made us (believing sinners) accepted in the Beloved (the Lord Jesus).”
Can I get lucky with God? Not at all. But God has done something far better by guaranteeing to fulfil His wonderful promises in saving me from going to hell and give me His everlasting spiritual gifts or blessings if I will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to save me. If you want God’s many blessings do believe in Christ to save you and God will save you and keep you.