Gambling and the Believer

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. (Hebrews 13:5)

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. (Luke 12:15)

I want us to look at greed in a broader way than just gambling. I want to relate the same with a life of faith to help us appreciate the reality and word of God to our lives.

I feel it is urgent because of the lives and times we are living in.

In the past, no serious person even wanted to be seen around gambling dens. It was the ne’er do well and those who were raised without any responsibility who would be found there.

Gambling was for idlers.

Yet today we even have pastors unashamedly boasting of the ‘breakthrough’ they have gotten from gambling, especially sport betting.

Is the Bible silent on gambling? Is there really scriptural direction to gaming?

Again I do not only want to dwell on betting. There are many other forums it is indirectly happening like manipulative trading; normally called speculative trading.

Let me be hypothetical for now.

Assuming God is fine with gambling. Is there a possibility for someone outside his side winning? Can His servant lose any bet?

You see, God not only knows about tomorrow, He owns it. It means He decides what will happen every moment of any day.

He knows the result of all the matches that will be played even ten years from today, in the minutest detail. It goes without say that His prophet will just need to plug into Him to accurately give the results of every single match all over the world, meaning that he will win all the jackpots in the world.

The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD. (Proverbs 16:33)

This makes it clear that if God supported gambling there really would be no gambling as His people would be winning all the bets since He determines the way everything turns out.

And it is the same with business. God not only knows, but He also determines what will sell like hot cake tomorrow or next year. He can add value to what we call trash today. And He can trash what is of inestimable value today.

It means that if He operated according to our thinking (being led by mammon), He will tell His servant to buy things on the cheap then manipulates the system so that the same servant sells them at a premium.  You see, He loves His servants.

But God is not like us. He created us to work as opposed to taking short cuts. He gave Adam Eden to till and not trade on its returns. And of course we know that farming requires time and effort.

God knows where all the gold, diamonds and precious stones are as He is the one who put them there in the first place. Won’t it be easy for Him to show His servants where they are so that they can buy those lands before leading them to discover them?

God, however, is not like that. Those are the operating methods of the god of this world. And we know that the god of this world is diametrically opposed to the systems of the true God.

Greed is therefore a manifestation of the god of this world. And that is why it involves guesswork all the time. You see he can only guess where God is going according to the signs he sees.

God is precise in what He does. And He reveals the same to His servants.

Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7)

Why does that not include the bets?

In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. (Proverbs 14:23)

God expects us to labor.

Incidentally that labor is not only a product of faith; it should really flow from our obedience to His leading, especially through reading His word.

Profit therefore takes another dimension, a totally different one from what mammon (the god of the world) operates in.

We trade for profit. Yet God places profit at a different place in priorities as the world places it.

Profit is king is the way the world operates. Profit is a slave is the way God operated.

Grace is king in God’s scheme of things. You just need to read through the Old Testament to see that.

One does not work for profit as an end. One works to obey God’s commands. Profit naturally comes when we obey.

Sabbath, Sabbath year, jubilee, harvesting on the fringes of the land, going over the sheaves again, storing meat for long, feeding the poor, needy, orphans and widows, keeping pledge from the poor overnight are all clear commands to tell us that God looks at profit in a totally different way we look at it.

Money is therefore not an object of desire for a person of faith. It is simply a tool God places in our hands to manifest His goodness to the world. Labor is an act of worship.

And it is because once money becomes the object of our trading, it becomes a god that must be worshipped; meaning that we must follow its methods.

You see, there are ministers who responded to the call of money to join the ministry. They are simply idol worshipers. It is only that they use their mouth to proclaim a different God.

I am talking about a pastor who haggles for a salary increase or he resigns. And the one who leaves a church because another one offers a better package. And the one who gets into writing as an additional income stream.

I am not even mentioning motivational preachers who are simply spiritual harlots who need to use the Bible to market mammon.

We should do what we do in response with what God has asked us to do. And the simple reason is that God, who owns tomorrow, will lead us to profit in a way that will bring glory to Him. And that can appear very foolish to the world systems yet bring the right profit, packaged by God who owns tomorrow.

Gambling is sin because it seeks provision outside work as well as feed greed and uncertainty.

God wants us to seek Him and walk in obedience to His word.

He expects us to walk in sync with His revelation and be at peace with whatever and however his leading offers.

Will you obey God?

Will you consistently and daily read His word?