Last Wednesday, the Grand Lotto jackpot towered an almost half a billion pesos (Php495,597,376.80 to be exact). It is the largest in Philippine lottery history. It is grand indeed that someone who hits it will be able to afford 285 Toyota Fortuners, or maybe more than 4000 Intel Core i7 MacBooks, or how about 30 condominiums in Makati, or even 1.65 square kilometers of commercial lot, enough to cover a baranggay-wide business area. But for me, I can just measure it with my salary for 4130 years (yes, years not months and in case you’re drowned, please don’t forget that we are living in 2010AD). So the next time you see a long line of lotto ticket buyers, or you hear that your Sunday School teacher has consulted a numerologist, or you notice that your pastor has changed the TV channel on Saturday night, this may perhaps explain why.
I wonder why people cluster on ticket stations and church attendance can rarely be a crowd when my Bible says in Matthew 13:44,
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells his 285 Toyota Fortuners and his 4000 Intel Core i7 MacBooks just to buy that field.
And again, Jesus commands in Mark 10:21,
You lack one thing: go, sell all your 30 condominiums in Makati and your baranggay-wide commercial lot and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.
For Christians, the true jackpot is death. For Paul, to live is Christ and to die is jackpot (Phil. 1:21). To die is worth more than my salary for 4130 years multiplied by a thousand more. It is gain because it is the beginning of an unending joy-filled and pleasure-filled fellowship with the most enjoyable Being, GOD, the Author of all joys and pleasures, and with fellow GOD-treasurers.
An Unbounded Me. It takes faith by His grace for us to see death as the true jackpot. It is only by grace can we be so truly excited of heaven where we will wear our glorified bodies capable of everything except to displease GOD. No more pain, no more sufferings, no more disappointments, no more sin! We will never see GOD’s face frown but He will always be smiling for me. Oh! May His grace uphold my sanity when I see a millimeter of His smile.
An Undivided Society. We can also be so enthusiastic of heaven for it will be a community of GOD-lovers. Perfect peace, perfect harmony, perfect unity, perfect fellowship. There, we will see John Calvin and John Wesley shake hands in front of Apostle Paul. Even Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists will agree on baptism. Worship songs will be shared by the hymn writers, the gospel rockers, and the reformed rappers. I won’t worry for our things being stolen neither for our secrets being broadcasted.
An Unveiled Glory. But the pinnacle of everything is the removal of curtains that veil the glory of GOD. GOD has suppressed His breath when He gave life to Adam. He has limited His mighty hands when He held the divided sea. He repressed His voice when He thundered Mount Sinai. He submerged the fullness of His holiness when He appointed Isaiah. He concealed His true glory in human body when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. All the things that amaze us because of tremendous displays of His power and might are just glimpses of His true glory. But after His appointed time of our death, we will behold the perfections of His attributes unveiled. The display will be so exciting that we will never get bored of it even after a trillion of trillion years.
