Of course, not every gamble is immoral. We all take calculated risks, whether we’re crossing the road, buying a raffle ticket or having an operation. Some risks, we believe, are worth taking, even just for the fun of it.
But as the culture of gambling takes a stronger hold - or becomes ‘normalised’, as the Methodist Church has warned - and as Christians speak out against it with good reason, we should also suggest an alternative channel for the urge many people feel to try their luck and see where it gets them.
In the Parable of the Talents, Jesus certainly seems to want us to give something a go – unlike the servant who buried his cash in the ground, terrified of losing what had been entrusted to him. Our calling, surely, is to be like the other two servants, who set about doubling their money.
Perhaps the (slim but significant) difference lies in the fact that the parable is talking about investment, not gambling. And it’s less about the money - or about money at all - than about how we handle the Master’s investment in us.
Most people daydream sometimes about becoming wealthy (and for many of us our only chance would be to take some kind of spin on the wheel of Fortune). Yet all the while we fail to see that we’re already rich.
If we are to rise to the challenge of the Master, first we must understand how we are rich, as well as how rich we are. As John Stott has said, ‘Although God has no more to give us than he has given us in Christ, we have a great deal more to receive.’
Lost souls may mistakenly try to gain the whole world. The task for Christians is to invest in the kingdom all the gifts God has given us, and so to increase its yield. In a gambling culture, it’s time to start realising the true value of God’s investment in us all.
Brian Draper
Reproduced with permission: © The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity
