Poker Analogy

 I want to make an analogy based on the game of poker.  It's a bit involved, so bear with me.

In poker, people tend to think that the person who wins the pot is the best player.  They think that the best player is the one who is constantly winning pots.  Here's the real question- what happened in that hand that they won?  Did they get lucky?  How did their opponents respond to their play?

You see, the best player isn't necessarily the one who wins the most pots.  In fact, if a player is very lucky, they can win the most pots simply because they are dealt the best cards.  The best player in poker is the one who induces the most errors in their opponents.  You can induce a lot of errors in your opponents' play and still lose.  You can make the best plays and still end up with nothing.  You see, because in poker the person who wins the most is not always the same as the person who plays the best.

God calls us to view life as sort of a poker game.  There are some who are very lucky, getting dealt good hands over and over.  God doesn't evaluate us based on the cards we were dealt.  God evaluates us based on the plays we make with the cards that we are dealt.  So if you've been dealt a crappy hand, don't despair- you can still be great in the kingdom of Heaven.  If you've been dealt good hands, don't rejoice- you may not be nearly as good a player as you think you are.  You may just be very "lucky", which isn't essentially worth much in the Kingdom.  We must all strive to be good... "players", in the sense of maximizing the hands we are dealt, and not worrying about the fact that someone else seems to constantly be getting better cards than you.  Trust me.  God knows the difference between the ones who are just lucky, and the ones who are wise in how they maximize the cards they are dealt.  Being righteous in spite of the difficulties life gives you- that is how to be a Kingdom person in a world obsessed with appearances and obsessed with being number one.  We must learn to think in Kingdom ways, not as people of this world who are focused on getting ahead, but focused instead on how to bring glory to God.  For that is how you play your cards in the Kingdom of God.