From "Gambling: What's the Big Deal?" (Heavenward Bound, October 2026)
In this issue of HB we consider a simple question:
Is gambling, in any form, something Christians should do?
Gambling Defies Our Call to Contentment.
“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”” (Heb. 13.5) Gambling exhibits a desire for the possessions of another: It is a logical impossibility to do so while being content with what one has.
Gambling is Poor Stewardship of God’s Things
“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Tim. 5.8)
Gambling is poor stewardship of the things God has given us to provide for ourselves and our brethren. “‘Gambling’ and ‘responsibility’ seem to be oxymoronic, because if you’re gambling it’s all about risk.” (Adam Silver, editor-in-chief of “Investopedia”) The sad story of gambling is that so often one’s relatives are precisely the ones who suffer from the gambling habits of their providers!
It Takes Two to Gamble: Don’t Help Them Sin!
You may remember Jesus’ thoughts on those who cause another to sin. (Luke 17.1-2) If someone wants to make a wager with us, it should be as offensive and abhorrent as any other proposition defiant of the will of God. Enabling another’s descent into covetousness and separation from God is the furthest thing from what a true Christian desires to do.
Gambling Opposes Our Call to Work, Earn, & Provide
“Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”(Eph. 4.28)
Christians are expected to acquire resources in ways that do not defraud others. If theft is forbidden for Christians on these grounds, then gambling must likewise be rejected. Theft and gambling both result in the loss of resources without compensation. What distinguishes these from gift-giving is that the loss is undesirable, since neither the victim of theft nor the loser of a wager desired to lose their resources! In both cases, the gaining party has deprived the losing party of some ability to provide for themselves and their dependents, a sin akin to that of refusing to pay one’s workers on time (James 5.4).
It seems that the only real difference between gambling and theft is whether the losing party knew of the loss beforehand. If gambling is permissible because both parties agree to attempt to defraud one another, then dueling is permissible because both parties agree to attempt to murder one another. There is no case in which consent to wrong one another results in divine approval for either!
Kyle Sanders
Kyle has been preaching since 2016 in Chiefland, Florida and Clinton, Mississippi before coming to work with the Jamestown church of Christ in 2021. Before preaching, he spent several years as a high school mathematics teacher in Indiana, Kentucky, and Florida. Kyle is a teacher at heart and brings his love of studying and interacting with students into his preaching and teaching efforts. He and his wife, a native Hoosier, have been blessed with five children, two dogs, a full house and zero leftovers.