Most of life involves taking
chances to one degree or another.
Ec 9:11 I returned and saw under the sun that—The
race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen
to them all.
Not everyone acknowledges tha
few circumstances in our life are predictable.
Now
listen, you who say, "Today
or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year
there, carry on business and make money. Why, you do
not even know what will happen tomorrow."
Jam 4:13-14a
There's a certain false security
about presuming circumstances are predictable, but we become
disillusioned about that as we age.
But concerning gambling, what is
it? For example how might playing black jack differ from
investing in a stock? Or is buy stocks gambling? Furthermore
isn't it a gamble to go into business? Yes, virtually
everything in life is a gamble to one degree or another.
For good reason the Bible
doesn't talk about "gambling" explicitly. Rather the importan
thing it speaks of is exercising wisdom based upon knowledge
in all our decisions.
In any decision there's the
issue of risk versus reward. Lottery tickets are a foolish
investment, for example. For while the payout sounds big, the
odds are so low that you would have to invest more than the
payout just to get even odds of getting a payout. You ge
better odds than that from gambling casinos, and still those
are foolish investments. For once again the risk/return is no
in your favor. Stocks are a better investment, but risk is
still involved.
But why take unnecessary risks
to begin with? Typically it's because of greed. Greed makes
people want to get rich quickly, but the Bible says, "An inheritance quickly gained at the
beginning will not be blessed at the end." Pr
20:21 And here's some other things the Bible says:
Pr 23:4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have
the wisdom to show restraint.
Pr 28:20 A faithful man will be richly blessed, bu
one eager to get rich will not go unpunished.
Pr 28:22 A stingy man is eager to get rich
and is unaware that poverty awaits him.
1Ti 6:9 People who want to get rich fall
into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and
harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
So what's the point of
taking unnecessary financial risks? But hard work generally
pays off. "All hard work brings a
profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." Pr
14:23
Finally, "Make
it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your
own business and to work with your hands, just as we told
you, so that your daily life may win the respect of
outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody."
1Th 4:11,12
