The Right Read

A player named Luke had just eliminated a player named Dan at an online poker tournament. That inspired us to this exchange....

Dealer: sluke009 wins Main Pot ($1305) with One pair, aces
Me: Luke over Daniel.
sluke009: lol
Dealer: johnsonrj49 wins Main Pot ($780)
Me: (Biblical reference)
Mykall: Amen
Me: Hopefully everyone here reads the Bible. :-)

No one responded to that last comment. And to be honest, we weren't really surprised -- not after the comment we mentioned Thursday night, from the young man who doesn't read the Bible because "I'm Catholic."

It would be tempting to pile on the Roman Catholic Church -- but let's face facts here. A lot of poker players of all backgrounds don't read the Bible. One statistic we found indicates more than half of all U.S. residents don't even read it once a week.

You may have noticed we quote from the Bible often here. If you don't read it, we think you're missing something important and valuable. We find advice in God's Word which actually could help you in playing poker. But we also find the most important news of all -- the "good news" of salvation through Jesus Christ.

"It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.... Salvation is fund in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved," says Acts 4:10-12.

But you probably wouldn't know that for sure unless you read the Bible for yourself. Just as a top poker pro studies tendencies and traits of opponents, you should "study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (II Timothy 2:15, KJV).

Other translations substitute "do your best" or "be diligent" for "study." But our point is that the word of God is worth a close look. Don't assume you know what the Bible says -- because you might find unexpected surprises inside. But accept God's surprises, and be willing to apply them in your life.