It seems our culture is captivated by gambling, and all the more so as the fall sports season ramps up.  Not that ours is the only one, or the first.  Consider various dice artifacts discovered in Egyptian tombs.  Or gaming tiles dating back to 2300 BC in Ancient China.

The soldiers who watched Jesus die on Calvary gambled for His inner garment, which was said to be “without a seam.”  If you love Jesus, as I do, this callous behavior likely offends you.  However, it meant nothing to the soldiers who were merely looking for a way to pass the time until the men hanging above them died. 

There is another intriguing reference to something akin to gambling in the Bible.  It appears people “cast lots” to discern the will of God.  The sailors who feared they would die in a storm with Jonah, cast lots to determine who among them was responsible for their circumstances.  After Judas ended his life, the disciples cast lots to choose his replacement.  It can be argued that this process should not be classified as gambling, since there was no intent for financial gain.  Also, if God revealed His will through these practices, then their outcome could not be called “chance”.  I will leave you to ponder this practice.

The Bible doesn’t specifically condemn gambling, although some refrain because they don’t want to be associated with the soldiers at the cross.  Gambling is also out of step with sound biblical principles which teach us how to properly steward the resources God gives us.

If you decide to gamble, know this: Just as God hasn’t prohibited gambling, He hasn’t promised you a jackpot either.  Don’t blame Him if you lose everything, even if you evoke the name of Jesus when you make your wager.  On the other hand, God has promised He will bless us when we follow His instructions in regards to all of our possessions.   

But this devotion isn’t about gambling, although I will admit I have spent an inordinate amount of time on the subject.  Rather, it is about eternity.  Eternal life is not a gamble.

“Of course, it isn’t!” we might reply.  But if this is the case, then why are we attracted to Pascal’s famous wager: “If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing”.  This statement is often interpreted to mean it is a reasonable gamble to trust that God and heaven exist, because if you say they do and you are correct, you will be blessed beyond measure.  If you say they do and are in error, you haven’t lost anything. 

In fairness to Pascal, he wasn’t actually creating an apologetic axiom when he proposed his wager, and he would likely be frustrated with how some have applied it.  But it’s message, at face value, still finds an audience with those who are navigating faith in God.

Philosophical reasoning aside, we need to see the promise of eternity as something more than a line of logic, though it is logical to believe in heaven.  Instead, the certainty of heaven needs to define how we live, and why.  You may be aware of a related wager posed by C.S. Lewis; “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”

If we live for God, just in case He exists and there is such a thing as eternal life, we will approach our faith half-heartedly.  We might conclude it is best to do the minimum, lest we fail to miss out on some worldly pleasure in case this life is all we have.  But if we live for God because we know that only He can bless us here and in eternity, then nothing in this life is worth holding so tightly we miss what comes next. 

Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:19-20, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” It doesn’t sound as though Jesus is encouraging us to hedge our bets, just in case we are wrong about eternity.  Instead, He is warning us against investing so heavily in the world that we lose everything. 

Practically speaking, I believe this means we should start with the assumption of heaven and allow this reality to frame everything else.  When we live in God’s promise of eternal life, we can enjoy our time on earth and find fulfillment in His will.  On the other hand, if we live primarily for the world, and attempt to spend just enough time thinking about eternity to stay in good graces with God, we could find ourselves in a state of misery.

I guess, in human terms, God is a safe bet.  But if we dare to use gambling as a metaphor for eternity, we should at least say God is a “sure” bet.  He isn’t there in case something else doesn’t work out.  He has offered us eternal life through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus because He knows without this gift, the only option is eternal separation from His glory.  There are at least two certainties when it comes to eternity:  In Jesus, we have victory.  Without Jesus, we are lost.

I invite you to join me in resisting any line of thinking that makes heaven an “ace in the hole.”  If you want to gamble with something besides eternity, I won’t try to stop you, and I can’t point to a chapter and verse that commands you to do otherwise. 

Just be very careful.  While I can’t condemn gambling in God’s name, I am convinced it is a huge foothold for Satan.  And trust me.  You don’t want to play a game of chance with the devil! When you sit with him at the table, the cards are already stacked against you.