I know many people will not agree with the devotion today but until you have seen the troubled lives who believe the lottery will provide the monetary means to fulfil the rest of their lives, then you will not understand how dangerous the lottery is. I had a man who worked for me right after the lottery came into Georgia who stood one Friday afternoon and spent every last dollar he had made that week in a matter of thirty minutes. Once he had lost his whole paycheck he got mad at me because I wouldn't give him the money he needed to pay his bills that week. He had a wife and children who depended on him and he let them down terribly. To this day I have never spent a dollar on the lottery, I figure it was to hard to earn the money, I sure wasn't going to just throw it away. One way to understand what lottery is like is to look at a billboard on the side of the road, the picture may look good on the front of the sign but stop your car and go look behind the sign and you will see all of the cobb webs and dirt daubbers nests. All of this filth is behind the front that is put up and this is the way that satan uses different things like the lottery to destroy the lives of people who just can't resist him. Bryant I commend you for your stand on this issue. - Jerry

I enjoy the Daily Devotion very much. But I have to say when you bring your politics into it you ruins it. All you say here about being financially wise is true. Money easily made is foolishly spent. However I see no need it the comment that the lottery takes money from the poor and uses it to finance 'affluent kids' college education. The HOPE scholarship is GA knows no income level. It is purely based on grades and I have to say when I was in school if all it took to get a college education was to keep up the As and Bs I would have. There are many children who would not have gone to college that are going now because of the HOPE.
Yes there are people regardless of education or wealth that will spend their money foolishly and I think you could have gotten your point across without pushing a poor vs. rich agenda. - Ellen Puckett

Very timely and insightful meditation! Gambling is, indeed, unscriptural because it leads its victims to expect pay without work. Gambling is very addictive and has ruined many lives. More Christians need to be speaking out against this unethical way for states to make money. - Carol Benoit, DO

Our sons are both in college and I have to admit that we did take advantage of the hope scholarship here in Georgia. We used it since it was going to be there for someone to use anyway, but to be honest I would rather have paid for everything than there be a lottery in the first place. Just one person that is addicted & their family suffers and does without because of it, is one person too many for me.I do agree with the other person, though that the hope can be used by anyone no matter what their financial status is as long as they have a B average. - Christ Follower

Thanks Bryant for your words of truth. I pray the Lord would bless you in ways we can't even imagine. - carol

The Hope Scholarship is for any student with a 80.00 average or above. It is not based on income. There is enough "class" envy in this country without you adding to it. Every human being has the ability to make choices. The Hope Scholarship system has enabled thousands to attend college. Do not critize the lottery because a poor person buys a ticket. This is the first time I have ever been disappointed in your daily devotion. - Cathy

I have won $800 since the Texas lottery started. I won this by never buying a ticket. I kept my dollar every week.
I will win another $800 over the next 15 years.
State lotteries are for people with poor math skills and I am waiting for the day when there is a class action suit againt the public schools for not teaching math to the players. - Hal

Hal- Love it :-) - Christ Follower

I agree with Bryant because the affluent areas generally have the better schools and the children have more influences in their lives (not in all cases, of course) to encourage them to make the grades and have the ambition to go to college. So the affluent would in general be receiving a greater proportion of the Hope Scholarship money. I do not think Bryant was trying to in any way stir up bad feelings between the "classes". But he was just making the point how that Hope Scholarship money is tainted with the cost of someone being brought terribly low to fund the plan. I have never bought a lottery ticket but I try not to be judgemental toward those who do. Afterall, the TV ads sure make it look appealing. But I did feel like it was wrong to put the system in place to start with. - Janice

No one makes anyone purchase a lottery ticket. My husband and I were blindsided one Sunday in Sunday School as someone asked us how we could allow our children to attend college on the HOPE when the less fortunate were the ones paying for it....as we sat there in shock, someone spoke out and said, "well, while the less fortunate are out buying lottery tickets, the rest of us were working to pay for their health care and food stamps." - sheryl

I have a problem with this statement..."in my state, the lottery is a sick way of taking money from the poor to pay for the affluent kids' college educations..." Pastor, is this REALLY what you meant to say? "..TAKING money from the poor..?" They are not forced to play the lottery...where does personal responsibility come into play? Might want to retract that comment. - Benny

I hit the lotto for about $9,000.
That's how much I saved on the Hope Scholarship. Never bought a ticket in my life. Good times. - Austin