Put My Money Down on Hope

So the Mrs. and I were in the grocery store yesterday, in need of some boxes to put books in. This means customer service. This means a perpetual line of people, how else could it be called customer service? It means people with funny colored meat or crumpled cereal boxes or Western Union things or bill paying things or a hundred other things. You already know what one of those "things" is. That's because every time you go to customer service, go to pay for your gas at a convenience store, or a dozen other such scenarios, you get behind someone trading away perfectly good money for worthless pieces of paper. I am talking about America's gambling addiction... the lottery.
And so Kimberly and I were just standing there, nothing else to do for that moment, doing our best to not be impatient. Meanwhile the two older ladies in front of us proceeded to wrangle there way through what must have been 10 or more lottery transactions, pulling 20 dollar bills from one envelope, 10s from purses, trading long slips of paper with the extremely patient clerk. I kid you not, it must have taken 20 minutes. Standing there... 20 minutes... of all the magazine covers in all the world, none were that interesting after 20 minutes. So I stopped looking around at the wall decor of the grocery store and the displays of cough drops and nasal decongestant and began to take a keen interest in the two ladies themselves. And as I observed them, my heart was moved for them. I did not know this, but just judging from what I was seeing I guessed they were each widowed. I assumed they were, aside from each other and maybe a couple of other friends, largely alone. Maybe the kids lived far away, or at least in the next town with lives of their own. And so here are these two older ladies at customer service in the grocery store on a Thursday afternoon with nothing better to do than slap down 10s and 20s in exchange for lottery tickets. I had pity on them. I wondered if either of them knew Jesus. After all, what motivates an otherwise rational septugenarion to throw money away like that? I'd say they weren't gambling "for the kids" as the lottery officianados describe this institution. They were reaching out for hope. If only they could hit it big maybe they would feel better? If maybe the 5 2-dollar tickets yielded an extra 2 dollars there would be comfort? I'm guessing that if they knew Jesus, they may not know Him very well. If they did, they would understand that in serving Him they were serving the One Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, Who is more than able to supply their every need.
So many people, just like these 2 ladies, have bought the lie that "more" means "better". Too many put their hope in wealth and the better life it supposedly brings. As for me, I will put my "money down" on hope, true hope. I will fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. And maybe next time I'm the guy in line at customer service, standing there with the off-colored pork chops, I'll have the courage to share the good news of the Savior with the next person I see putting their hope in a little slip of paper.