God And Gambling

 

God And Gambling

     I had the run of the town when I was ten-years-old.  Early summer mornings would find me on the hunt for cans.  Pop and alcohol drained then fit into a sack on my handlebars.  Like searching for mushrooms, in ditches and upon roadways I’d spy the monied refuse.  At a nickel a piece, they went far to fuel my zest for candy and pinball machines.  I had can fever.  My eye was always on the ready catching redemption gold strewn about the ground.

     I was addicted.  I think psychology calls it irregular rewards.  In other words, I wasn’t harvesting cans.  In that case I would be gaining with predictability.  No, I was a hunter/ gatherer with every trashcan lid I lifted.  Never knowing what stash I would stumble across enticed my curiosity to keep seeking.  I was gambling weighing effort expended versus payoff.  I had an unhealthy preoccupation which drove my bicycle onto dangerous highways.  Furthermore, I continually handled soiled cans with the threat of infectious disease.

     My focus became the find.  Dopamine dropped when beholding shiny metal from afar.  Excitement drove my pedals quickly to the drop.  Laying my bike in the weeds, I would leap down the ditch in fervor digging under grass for the prize.  I was a scavenger.

     Marsha, my mother, taught me to scan the ground for special rocks and Indian artifacts.  She trained my eye to spy the unique ones amongst many.  It was different with her.  Our expeditions into barren fields were fun.  We shared in discoveries.  Never did we brave the highway in a risk to possess a special stone.

     Can hunting perverted my spotting skill.  Gambling brought the disease and made it a solitary sport.  Bringing the cycle full circle meant sweets to my tongue and an afternoon at the arcade.  Both expenditures were less than honorable.  They led to hording and loitering.

     Gambling with its irregular rewards reduces us.  Fishing and hunting require skill and are an end to themselves.  In other words, we do not engage in these sports to further other desires via money.  When money is introduced, seduction brings us to the marketplace of wants.

Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

     If our treasure is constantly shifting in view of payback, we should not expect our desires to streamline.

James 4:1 “Where do [a]wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? “

     Furthermore,

1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (NKJV)

     In the end, our gambling dance leads to greed.  But the Lord’s command stands,

Luke 6:35 “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, [h]hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.” (NKJV)

     Our relationship with money greatly tells who we are.  Are not our resources His?  Continual investment over a span of time is wisdom.

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