When my daughter, Kim, was at college she worked part-time as a cashier in a local convenience store. One day a very excited lady came into the shop waving her lottery ticket in the air and exclaiming that she had won, and won big time! Apparently she had picked 5 or 6 of the numbers correctly and knew she had won a substantial amount – the jackpot was £9.2 million, as I recall – and she came into the shop to check how much she had won and see if there was any other winners. Everyone crowded around as Kim took the winning ticket and processed it in the Lottery Machine to register the win and see how much the winnings actually were… What happened next can only be described as the biggest look of shock on someone’s face that you have ever seen in your life! It transpired that the woman had indeed picked the winning numbers… but for the wrong day of the week: she had picked to play the Lotto on the Wednesday, instead of Saturday’s draw! She came into the shop absolutely convinced that she had won the prize but when the truth was revealed she left humiliated and distraught. Terribly sad!

Jesus said that’s how it will be for some people on the last day. They’ll say, ‘But Lord, Lord, it’s me, don’t you recognise me?’ And He will say to them, “Away from me, you evildoers! I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21-23).

R. Ian Seymour