“Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. ~ Ecclesiastes 5:10
Ever wondered what your life might be like if you ever won the lottery? Perhaps it’s not the Happily Ever After story you might otherwise assume it to be.
True Story.
He had a rough life. His mother died when he was only 8 years old, and his father sent him to an orphanage shortly thereafter. He had several brothers and sisters, all of them estranged. As he grew older, the instability from his childhood would follow everywhere he went.
He held a variety of jobs, none of them steady. He tried his hand at cooking, which didn’t last. From there he went on to work as a truck driver for a traveling carnival crew, but that proved to be a short-lived occupation as well. And then he decided to try his hand as a painter, painting houses. He also tried his hand at cashing bad checks, earning him a place in the county jail for a month. Throughout his life he’d been married 7 times and fathered 9 children.
By all accounts, William Post’s life had been a tremendous struggle. But on February 24, 1988 – his luck was about to change.
Post stopped at a convenience store that day and made a few purchases. With only $2.46 left in his fledgling bank account, he would make a final purchase that would change his life forever: a winning ticket for the Pennsylvania State lottery. In the blink of an eye, William ‘Bud” Post became an instant multimillionaire, to the tune of 16 million dollars.
But this is where the real story begins.
Within two weeks of receiving the first of 26 annual installment checks of $500k, he purchased a twin-engine airplane, a restaurant, and a used auto dealership. Within 90 days of receiving his first check, he was already in debt for $500,000. The following year he bought a mansion in nearby Oil City, Pennsylvania for $395,000.
Post was obviously enjoying this new life of wealth and materialism. Whatever he wanted was his. But then came some things he didn’t want.
William’s ex-girlfriend who gave him the money to purchase the winning lottery ticket sued him for a third of the winnings; the judge ruled in favor of the ex-girlfriend. One of Post’s estranged brothers, looking to inherit his brother’s incredible windfall, hired a hitman to kill William and his wife. His brother’s plan would fail and ultimately he would be convicted and imprisoned for attempted murder. There would be other run-ins with the law; assault and battery on his many creditors who came to him wanting their money, not to mention his own wife.
Near the end of his life, Post was living on a $450/month stipend and food stamps. When he died in 2006 at the age of 66, he was over a million dollars in debt.
William’s story reminds us of what can easily happen when we crave and seek the immediate riches in life that we foolishly believe will lead us to this euphoric state of permanent happiness. But as promising as these cautionary tales may seem on appearance, they invariably point to the folly of man’s flawed, worldly logic: true happiness can be purchased.
The world is constantly trying to convince us that everything we need is here in this life. More money, more cars, more houses, more furniture, more clothes, more prestige, more power, more fame and popularity… but isn’t it interesting that there just never seems to be enough? Why settle for that when you can have this?! And it can be yours today! Not a few years from now, not even a few weeks or months from now. But today!
What is it that we’re craving today? Are we spending most of our time worrying about what we don’t have, or are we expressing thankfulness to God for the things we already have; most importantly the eternal salvation that only comes through knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?
Matthew 6:24 tells us, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
God is a jealous God. But know this: everything in this world has a shelf life. What He offers is forever.
Money may be good while it lasts, but that’s just it: it never lasts.
Former Blackout Artist 