No Que Bueno

Poker is a worldwide game.  And some online poker sites have players from all sides of the earth.  The other night at PokerStars.Net, we noticed most of the player around us were from Argentina -- so after one hand, we wrote "bueno."  Moments later....

Moderator136 [Moderator]: Hello players, I'm Carlo.
Moderator136 [Moderator]: Please use English chat here.
Dealer: Eduardo_Chia, it's your turn. You have 8 seconds to act
flopblogger: Hello.
Moderator136 [Moderator]: Thank you.
flopblogger: Trying to be cordial to Argentinians.
flopblogger: apologies.
CLAUSTYL44: lol
"Bueno" is a common Spanish word for "good."  The capital of Argentina is Buenos Aires.  But that one solitary word from us brought a moderator's intervention.

Many U.S. poker rooms have "English-only" rules.  We think the reason is to prevent players from plotting strategy by speaking in other tongues, so that's understandable.  But our Poker Stars table wasn't a real cash game -- it was simply people playing for fun.

Yet rules are rules, and poker players should follow them.  In the same way....

Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. - II Timothy 2:5

Why would the Biblical writer Paul bring this up?  Because each one of us is in a "competition" even bigger than a poker tournament -- an endurance contest to stay close to God, and enter His Kingdom.

"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied.... "If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." - Matthew 19:17

Jesus (who apparently spoke both Greek and Aramaic, by the way) lists six of the Ten Commandments in the next two verses.  Read them for yourself.  Then rate yourself.  Are you playing by the Lord's rules -- so you can capture eternal life?