In the days of the early Church there was an association of men and women called the parabolani, the gamblers. It was their aim to visit the prisoners and the sick, especially those who were ill with dangerous and infectious diseases. In A.D. 252 plague broke out in Carthage; the heathen threw out the bodies of their dead and fled in terror. Cyprian, the Christian bishop, gathered his congregation together and set them to burying the dead and nursing the sick in that plague-stricken city; and by so doing they saved the city, at the risk of their lives, from destruction and desolation.
There should be in the Christian an almost reckless courage which makes him [or her] ready to gamble with his [or her] life to serve Christ and men.”
Of course, as believers God’s Spirit should guide us to a prudent and thoughtful response. It's one thing to gamble one’s own life, it's another thing to gamble with the lives of others.