Imagine Dragons – I Bet My Life

Welcome back to the Gospel According to, where we connect fandoms of every variety with Bible verses and truth. This week’s episode is centered on a classic 2010s pop song, Imagine Dragons’ “I Bet My Life.” This song is great on its own, but just imagine the lyrics talking to God instead of a human! Not sure what I mean? Read on to find out 😎

Fandom: I know I took the path that you would never want for me… So I, I bet my life, I bet my life on you.”

Verses: Luke 19:1-10, Psalm 32:3-5, Matthew 4:17, Luke 15:11-24

Truth: Becoming aware of our sin and the immensity of what Christ has done for us leads to greater commitment and gratitude towards Him, and a change in actions and mind.

Without Jesus, we’re all hopelessly lost.

“I know I took the path that you would never want for me; I let you down, didn’t I?” – Imagine Dragons

My life tends to walk a fine line between “I’m on top of the world and anything is possible” and “what in the world am I doing here???” This is partly due to my degree choice, partly due to the circumstances of a particular moment, and also caused by my own choices and actions.

Sometimes, when I feel like I’ve done something seriously wrong, usually having to do with hurting someone else, I feel completely and utterly lost. There is nothing I could do to come back from this; I’m a terrible human, unworthy of respect or acknowledgement, and I should avoid the person or people I’ve hurt altogether.

That’s a bit like what the singer of “I Bet My Life” is feeling at the beginning of the song. He has spent many years far from home, living a life of selfishness and hurting someone close to him. Now, he has come back to that person, begging them to forgive him, and promising to do better in the future (“I bet my life on you”).

Repentance means acknowledging our sins and taking them seriously.

The same situation of “I Bet My Life” happens in not one, but two Bible passages. In the first, a parable told by Jesus to demonstrate a point, a younger son essentially declares that his father is dead to him, takes his inheritance and gets out of town. He then proceeds to live it up, spending his father’s life savings on temporary pleasures. Once the inheritance is gone, he realizes the error of his ways and decides to go back to his father and beg him for forgiveness. What will the father do? (Luke 15:11-19)

The other situation is a true story of a man named Zacchaeus. This man had spent his entire life working as a tax collector, using the misfortune of others for his own benefit. He not only took the Jewish people’s money from them and gave it to their oppressors, the Romans, but also took an additional cut for himself. He had lied, and cheated, and stolen his way to wealth and prosperity, but it had left him friendless and hollow. This led him to search for Jesus, whom he had likely heard of as a powerful teacher and forgiver of sins. How would he be received? (Luke 19:1-10).

In both these situations, the two who turned away acknowledged the wrong they had done. The son in particular found himself at rock bottom, starving and penniless. He knew how terribly he had treated his father, and was willing to be treated as a hired worker rather than a son and an heir.

In the case of Zacchaeus, he knew that his selfishness and dishonesty were wrong in the eyes of God. Although we never get to see his point of view directly, we can infer based on his reaction to Jesus that his conscience was weighed down by guilt.

In the same way, in order to truly experience the joy and peace of our salvation, it is important for us to know how seriously we have failed in the eyes of God. “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked…” Ephesians 2:1. An Old Testament writer put it in an even more powerful way, speaking of the distress caused by refusing to repent:

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;

my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

Psalm 32:3-5 ESV

When we continue to walk the way we want to instead of the way God wants us to, it can do a lot of harm to ourselves and the people who love us.

One of the most mind-blowing things I’ve learned in the past year or so (and there have been a lot) is the purpose of Jesus’ ministry on earth. According to the book of Matthew, He actually started His ministry with this proclamation: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This verse was originally written in Greek, but let’s look at the Hebrew context of the word “repent” for a moment:

The word translated in English as “repent” was taken from the Hebrew verb shuv or the noun form teshuvah, which means “to turn around, turn back, return.” It implies a complete change, and an immediate action of obedience.

Linda Campbell, KAA Leadership (and this resource)

This word is so much more than telling God you’re sorry (although that is a good place to start)! It’s focus is on what our actions are doing, and how we can more closely follow the Lord.

Jesus’ response to our repentance is always love and forgiveness.

“I’ve been around the world and never in my wildest dreams/ Would I come running home to you/ I’ve told a million lies but now I tell a single truth/ There’s you in everything I do…” – Imagine Dragons “I Bet My Life”

This stanza literally describes what the Prodigal son does in Luke 15: he gets as far away from his father and brother as he can, probably swearing never to return. But eventually, after years of reckless living and following his every whim and desire, he realizes that living in his father’s house was better for him after all. Will the father accept his son? Here’s what happens:

 But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”‘ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Luke 15:17-24 ESV

This parable is a reflection of Jesus’ reaction to anyone who turns back to follow Him, whether for the first time or again and again. He celebrates our humility and our returning, and responds with love and compassion. Every. Time!! Our God is a good Father. Here’s another verse that further expands on the theme of repentance and forgiveness:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 ESV

A response of gratitude and love for Jesus means “betting our life” on Him.

Here at The Fangirl Fulfilled, I always want to encourage us to not only hear the Word, but to do it. To let it soak into our minds, then to our hearts, and bring out a change in behavior that will lead us closer to Christ. For this song and these verses, two things come to mind:

• If you are not a believer, or if you aren’t sure, today is the day! Repent and turn to the Lord; He’s already waiting to accept you as His child and follower and friend. Read more about how to do this here : )
• If you are a believer, check your heart: where do you need to repent? What areas of your life have you taken control of, and how can you lay them at the feet of Christ? What commandments do you need to obey more fully?

When Zacchaeus turned from his lifestyle of cheating and selfishness, here’s what he pledged to do to show his gratitude and changed heart:

And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Luke 19:8-10 ESV

I hope you were inspired by this post centered on Imagine Dragons’ “I Bet My Life.” If you were, please do me a solid and share with all your peeps using the graphic below. And let me know what you think!

Happy fangirling!