Where’s the harm in buying a lotto ticket at the convenience store?

Or chipping into the office sports pool?

Or making a quick trip to the slots at the casino?

When I was younger, I loved to play poker for money with my friends. The stakes were small, the camaraderie was great, and I appreciated the challenge of calculating the odds, bluffing, and reading the other players.

I also attended the Christian Science Sunday School, and when the discussion in class would turn to gambling and poker, my teacher would try to help me see all this from a different perspective. We discussed the concept of “making a god out of chance.”

While I knew my Sunday School teacher had my best interests at heart, that explanation just didn’t register with me. I was playing only a little poker with my friends. How was that hurting anybody? And while I was open to hearing a different viewpoint, I didn’t really want to give up the fun I was having.

Later, as I deepened my study of Christian Science, it became apparent that one of the basics of Christian Science is an understanding of God as all good, and the source of only good. When I played cards with my friends—even for small stakes—I was accepting the premise, albeit in a small way, that good was variable, that it could not be completely depended upon. The very act of gambling placed my support behind an activity that glorified luck. That just wasn’t consistent with how I was coming to understand God, and I saw the need to live consistently with that correct understanding. Just as I wouldn’t vote for an unjust law or purchase a harmful product, I saw the importance of relinquishing an activity tied to the concept of random good. So I did.

My prayers about this issue have continued. I love that one of the basics of Christian Science is the powerful concept that God knows no evil, and thus cannot inflict evil or misfortune upon His creation, man. God loves each of us completely, without regard to nationality, age, gender, financial status, occupation, or any other quality by which we define ourselves. This encouraging promise is found in the Bible in James: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17 ).

At its core, gambling is quite the opposite of an unshakable blessing. It rests on the basis that results can come in extremes—they can either be very good or very bad. The turn of a card, roll of the dice, or spin of the wheel makes someone a winner, someone a loser, and—despite all the books and systems purporting otherwise—no one can predict the next outcome without a doubt. That uncertainty is often marketed as part of the fun, but most often it’s just a false sense of excitement that gives way to disappointment and loss.

So what is required to make a perpetual sense of good relevant in our experience? I’m realizing that it’s an acceptance in our thought that good is indeed God’s very nature. If one firmly believes that good is elusive, sporadic, undependable, or random, that will tend to become what one sees. Life then becomes an expectation of bad things, punctuated by a few good moments.

A decision to gamble, even in a modest way, also encourages the basic premise that the road to success is not always dedicated work. That the road to happiness can depend on the “right” lotto combination, that our futures can be determined by the turn of a card, rather than by turning to God. Sadly, even for lottery winners, there is significant evidence that happiness proves short-lived. Studies show that a portion of multimillion dollar prize winners go bankrupt within just a few years of winning. And when it comes to casinos, those glimmering structures weren’t built with money from the winners!

I sometimes think our concept of God is a little too small—a God that isn’t always there to depend on for protection, supply, comfort, or intelligence. Perhaps what’s needed in cases like this is a clear mental sense that God is not only all good, but that He is always available. In her work Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy says, “It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony” (Science and Health, p. 390).

It is beyond dispute that gambling can become compulsive, forcing destructive behavior beyond one’s control. Besides the ruinous financial consequences, yielding control of one’s behavior frequently results in poor decision-making, and personality changes. Of course, not everyone who gambles becomes a compulsive gambler, just as not everyone who drinks becomes an alcoholic. But the fact remains that such habits have enslaved mankind for centuries, robbing individuals and families of health, wealth, and happiness. Each time we make the decision to avoid or relinquish these activities, we take a stand for others’ freedom, too.

One might ask: If I stop gambling, does my social life have to suffer? And how can I make the right decision? I’ve found that motivation is often the key element in choosing our activities. When it seemed right for me not to play cards for money anymore, it wasn’t a big dramatic moment; I just began to emphasize other activities in my life that gave me a deeper sense of satisfaction, mainly athletics. Whether someone decides to abruptly stop a habit like gambling, or more gradually shifts to other satisfying pursuits, depends on the individual. Whether our progress is slow or fast, we can be secure in the knowledge that God loves us wherever we are in our understanding of Him.

The bottom line is that God is good—unvarying, unlimited good. Holding this concept firmly in thought opens our experience to supply, love, and security that isn’t dependent upon luck. Turning away from even mild forms of gambling helps remove the influence of chance from our lives, placing firm reliance on God as the only source of good we can count on. This faith remains unshaken even as we navigate the stormy seas of life and head for the beauty of calm waters. God can be understood as our dependable Father-Mother, and He will bless us.

And that’s no gamble.