Nobody should want to spend their money or their life for
something that is going to fail. You should want to be fairly sure
that what you are doing is going to succeed. But a gambler takes
wild and foolish risks in the very slim chance of winning.
The apostle Peter was not gambling with his life in this story!
Peter was a fisherman, and one day a Man called Jesus came to him
and said, "Follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men."
1*.
Peter was willing to immediately leave the security of his work and
his home to become a follower of this Man. He was going to a job he
did not know: fishing for men! He didn't even ask about what pay he
would get! Was that not a foolish gamble?
No! Peter knew that the One he was putting his trust in was "the
Christ, the Son of the Living God." 2*. He knew Jesus was the only Saviour from sin and
destruction. 3*. So,
to trust and follow Him would mean being sure of getting to God and
Heaven. 4*. He also
knew that the work he would be doing would be for the Kingdom of
God; and that would be of far greater value and importance than
catching fish! 5*.
Later, when the disciples were with the Lord Jesus, Peter said to
Him "We have left all we had to follow You!"
"'I tell you the truth,' Jesus said to them, 'no one who has left
home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the
Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age
and, in the age to come, Eternal Life.'" 6*.
Do you know and believe that Jesus is the Son of the Living God? If
you really do then it is NOT a "gamble" for you to trust Jesus
alone for salvation. You should be ready and willing to love and
obey His Word. 7*.
Many don't want to let Jesus be LORD in their lives because they
don't want to have to accept His Word, the Holy Bible, as their
Guide. They are rejecting the One who is "the Way, the Truth
and the Life" so they are ignoring the only Way to God and
Heaven. 8*.
Instead they might foolishly gamble that some other way might get
them to God! Some put their hope in the sacraments of their
religion, or hope that by doing the best they can that they will
surely be accepted by God in the end. Some try to convince
themselves that God will forgive everybody! Don't you take
any such wild and foolish gamble with YOUR soul! 9*.
Christians aren't gambling when they
put their trust in Jesus to save them, and when they decide to obey
His Word in their lives. That is NOT a gamble, nor is it
presumption! It is faith and trust in the promises of our great
God and Saviour. To all who put their trust in Him alone for
salvation He promises "life to the full" now, and the assurance
that they will not fail to receive eternal life. 10*.
Read Jesus' guarantee of this in Luke's Gospel chapter 18, verses
28-30.
Bye for now,
John Nixon, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland. P31HD98. Contact: jnixonj@gmail.com
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Footnotes. Bible quotations from N.I.V.
