Do Millions Lead to God?

Today, wealth is held to be of paramount importance. However, in the next life, good deeds alone will count.

A 63-year-old Italian-born American living on the outskirts of New York remained unemployed for eight years. Although he was a skilled carpenter, he remained unemployed for eight years and had to eke out an existence on a modest union pension. He had not even enough resources to reap the tomato crop on the land he owned next to his house.

According to a news item that appeared in the New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur, on the 28th of July 1984, one day the man decided to buy a lottery ticket. To his surprise, on 27th July 1984, the news of his having bagged the first prize of twenty million dollars was broken to him— the biggest lottery prize ever received by anyone anywhere.

The news was first announced over television. Immediately afterwards, a press conference was called. Talking to reporters, the carpenter told them that he was astonished to hear the news. He said, “I kept checking my number with the one being announced.” Even then, he could not quite believe that it was he who had won the prize. His first reaction after hearing the news was to rush to his wife, who was asleep. He said to her, “I think we are millionaires.” Then, while talking to the newsmen, he said, “I got whatever I need. I got my house. I got my tomatoes.”

In this world, money suffices people’s material needs. It, therefore, makes them think of it as an end in itself; possession of wealth comes to be regarded as everything. However, in the next world, it is not money that will matter but God’s grace.

The problems that one faces in this life are very different from those that will have to be faced in the life to come. Today, wealth is held to be of paramount importance. However, in the next life, good deeds alone will count. Today, there is nothing we cannot obtain in return for money. However, the only way our needs will be satisfied tomorrow is by God’s grace.