A brown Kangol(R) cap, similar to what Ben Hogan used to wear, purchased in New Orleans, with my money pouch emptied on top. I got tired of losing coins, so I have used a coin pouch for decades now. This one is red and blue (Ole Miss colors). It is far from a sack of gold or a talent, but it comes in handy.

June 24, 2025 / 0 comments

An Opened Box that Cannot be Shut

Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

  • 1 Timothy 3:1-3

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

  • 1 Timothy 6:10

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

  • Matthew 6:24

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

  • Philippians 4:19

““It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

  • C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

In C.S. Lewis’s book, the Screwtape Letters, Screwtape, a senior demon, writes to his nephew, Wormwood, a junior demon, thirty-one letters.  The letters are mostly encouragement in turning his patient away from God.  In fact, early in the book, the “patient” becomes a Christian.  Screwtape is not worried.  There are ways of making the Christian an ineffective witness.  Of course, getting the “patient” to backslide and curse God would be the ultimate goal.

Thus, when Screwtape writes that small sins have an accumulative effect in turning the man away from the Light and into the “Nothing” is Screwtape thinking that to be a good idea.

And maybe the NFL’s decision to open the NFL to gambling to avoid the “monopoly” lawsuit seemed innocent.  After all, between fantasy football betting and betting on the games, especially the Super Bowl, what could go wrong?

But as I watched some of the UFL games this summer, one of the “news reporters” had airtime from before kickoff through each quarter of the game.  She reported how the odds had changed, and it was still time left to make a bet on what will happen next.  She was not a reporter at all.  She was a gambling analyst.

In other words, “You just lost the rent money on who would score first, what the halftime score would be, etc., but you can double down and lose even more money of whether the team that has the ball will score or punt.  By the end of the game, mwa-ha-ha, we will own your soul.”

Of course, she never says that, but isn’t that their goal?  They may pepper the proper statements about responsible bets, but at that moment, this gorgeous blonde is saying the odds are good that this one thing might happen but you must put your money down now.

Yes, one little sin leads to the next and the next.  Until you have no money left to bet.  And while all the networks seem to have their own online casino or at least a sports betting app, a couple of networks push the betting more than others.

And it is not just American football.  Everyone is in on the game.

When I grew up, sports may have been the betting vice for people in dark alleys of the world, but the game seemed pure.  Yes, there were teams that had to forfeit games due to point shaving, but when I was too young to shave, point shaving was a term that had no meaning for me.

I try to watch the games and ignore the reporting, especially with the odds on display.  I frankly have no idea what most of the terms that they mention mean.

But I can think of a few players or managers that lost out when gambling was a no-no.  Can they replay the games that Alex Karras and Paul Hornung missed due to gambling?  Can baseball put Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame or for ever be known as hypocrites?

And is point shaving allowed, as long as it is not blatantly obvious, like tanking a season to get better draft picks?

My favorite television show is a panel discussion among pastors, and one Baptist on the panel was asked if gambling was a sin.  He said that gambling, as a term, is not mentioned in the Bible.  God says that we are given all we need, so gambling away what God gave us to get more is saying that God did not do the job right.  And that was definitely a sin.

And might I ass that depriving the family of God’s provisions because you gambled and lost is unthinkably a bad thing to do.

But Pandora’s box has been opened.  If you like sports, you will hear and see people tempting you.  As for me, I have little interest in watching the games anymore.  It is noise in the background while I am resting, often not watching at all.

And I have written about how I cannot see any competition in Heaven.  There is no pain, no crying…  Then how can there be losing.  Without losing, winning loses all meaning.

So, to the sports fans out there, you have difficult decisions to make.  Not gambling should be near the top of that list.  Root for your team instead of rooting for what left your wallet or purse.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.

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