Winning Big

I’m not a gambler. I guess I don’t have the right mindset for it anyway.

My son, who works at a supermarket, tells me that when people win at the lottery, they generally immediately reinvest their winnings in more lottery tickets. A co-worker of his recently won a nice sum of money… and put it all back into the game. There’s that outside chance (no pun intended) that he might strike it bigger, really big.

I am a player, however, in an arena where the stakes are much higher. Where, if I lose, the consequences are devastating. And if I win, I win the highest and the best and there is no need to reinvest.

It’s the option of heaven or hell. As our pastors have reminded us, it’s a choice we all make. No opting out on this one. No deciding to save the paycheck for other pursuits - this is the only investment choice. And no sitting back, refusing to make a decision. To sit it out is to make the decision by default, and it’s hell.

The difference about these stakes, too, is that there’s no guesswork involved. God’s Word tells me exactly what the options are. It clearly shows me how to request all that the Father has made available to His children through Jesus’ death for our sins. It tells me exactly how much I must lay down on the counter. And when I do, the Holy Spirit assures me that I have truly obtained eternal life.

It’s a sure thing. A done deal. I don’t have to watch the evening news to see if I’ve won. I don’t have to come away with cash-in-hand. I have the Spirit as a guarantee that all that has been promised to me will come to me (Eph. 1:13-14).

Life involves a lot of uncertainties, but the hereafter does not need to be one of them. God, in His mercy, has made sure that. And because of that mercy I will stand one day before Him and say,

Upon a life I did not live,
Upon a death I did not die,
Another’s life, Another’s death,
I stake my whole eternity.*

And I will win. Big.


*Horatius Bonar