Gambling is big business in Illinois with the state lottery and it just got bigger yesterday as casino gambling came to Chicago with the opening of the River Casino. Blistering hot temperatures did not deter the massive crowds who had to stand in long lines out in the hot sun, just to get in side. Traffic was paralyzed and the casino management had to advertise for people to delay their visit to the casino to another day.
This fascination of risking hard earned money on a slight chance of winning; completely eludes me. Casinos are in the business of making money. This is a fact that seems to escape the minds of the gambler. A friend of mine received a million dollar inheritance and gambled it all away at the Ho Chunk Casino in Wisconsin Dells. We can look at people who have gambling problems and ask ourselves, “How can they not see their destruction?” But gambling takes on a lot of different forms.
Many people gamble with their health with addictions to drugs, alcohol and smoking. When AIDS awareness campaigns ran out of money to make public service announcements; people returned to their high risk activities. A whole generation of teenagers; have no comprehension of how devastating this disease can be. Promiscuity is on the rise; high schools and colleges are breeding grounds for sexually transmitted diseases.
Gambling with money and with immoral behavior tends to be visible social dilemmas; but there is a greater risk that people are taking and that is with their salvation. There are over 1.5 billion Christians in the world of which the vast majority of them take little to no responsibility for their high calling in the LORD.
Sitting on the proverbial fence; neither abandoning the world for Jesus Christ nor abandoning Jesus Christ for the world, produces a church of mediocrity and indecision. The LORD speaks very harshly about Christians that are lukewarm fence sitters. He says; “because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth.”
Many people are playing around with their eternal salvation; there are gambling with their eternal future. There is nothing more important that our calling into the body of Jesus Christ. It is time to take a stand for the LORD and commit to Him. If you profess to be a Christian, then Jesus Christ Himself urges you to become on fire for HIM and the Gospel. There will be no room in the Kingdom of God for half hearted Christians who are Christians in name only. Tribulation will come upon those who remain lukewarm and they will be tried in the fire. They will be too late to save themselves from the pain and suffering that is to come. Now is the time to grow in righteousness by committing to Christ; He is knocking at the door. Will you let Him into ALL of your life; will you surrender ALL?
Salvation is no gamble if you take the steps to commit to it. The equation is simple and a sure thing; not a gamble at all. Repent; that is turn to God; be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues; then continue to walk in the LORD.
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