According to the Internet Advertising Bureau, 52% of internet gamblers are now women. This represents a cultural shift. Women are, for various reasons, attracted by and becoming tragically ensnared in the risks of gaming. It doesn’t take very much research to see that gambling is highly addictive and that it brings ruin to families. My husband I have personally seen it destroy families and bring indescribable grief to innocent people who love the addicted gambler. But, as I think about this, I have to stop and think about the women I know who are gambling today on the largest possible scale.
Have you ever known someone who has been exposed to enough teaching and preaching that she has identified the church of the Bible, yet does not see the urgency of becoming a part of it? She knows that she is lost outside of that body. She understands the terms of entrance to the church and has lots of encouragement from people whom she loves to become a member of it. But she fears that becoming a Christian will “cramp” her lifestyle. Procrastination will give her time to live the “good” life, participating in behaviors that are pleasurable to her, but prohibited by principles of scripture. She’s decided to wait till she has most of her years behind her to think about getting ready to die.
As I grieve over some that I know who are procrastinating about the most important decision of this life, I can think of a half-dozen reasons why such delay brings sorrow. and involves incalculable risks. I want to make the decision FOR those I love who are postponing. I want them to enjoy now the blessings that are so abundant in Christ. But, more than that, I want them to enjoy the personal security that comes from taking the eternally “safe” route.
If you’re holding the eternal “cards” in your own hand, you are not thinking about the high stakes. You should fold and walk away from the spiritual gambling table while there is time. Here are the reasons:
- Death is not always preceded by a warning which allows time for preparations for the judgment. If you want to be sure you are ready, today is the day.
- Death is not exclusively reserved for the elderly.
- Jesus is going to return and that, too, will occur at an unpredictable hour.
- Your influence over loved ones is incrementally lost as you delay. Perhaps you might be able to truly obey and receive forgiveness at a late hour, but your children will, in all likelihood, be lost if you are not devoted to God during their childhood.
- When the time comes for your planned obedience, you may no longer be interested in obeying. In fact, you may be closer right now to obeying than you will ever again be. The passage of time, combined with the hardening of hearts makes procrastination a huge gamble.
- If you truly obey at a late hour, you will most certainly be filled with deep regret for the time you wasted living for the devil, when you could have been bringing glory to the One who died for you.
