That man was displaying some personality, so we decided to play along with his advice. We looked at our cards, and quietly called 200. When his turn came, he raised to 600. The trouble for him was that our cards were quite good.
"I'm going to try to push as gently as I can," we told him when our turn came again. One by one, we delicately put the chips across the line - 1,400 in all. Then we whispered, "I'm all in."
The opponent didn't show much appreciation for our gesture. He called, anyway.
"How gently can I turn over rockets?!" we then asked. Yup - we had pocket Aces. He didn't.
We won the hand, for a big double-up. But at least we tried to oblige our opponent - and in the process display one of the fruit of God's spirit:
But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. - Galatians 5:22-23
You've probably never thought of poker as a gentle game. You might not even consider it a gentle-man's game - since it's been played by tough-talking cowboys in the Old West and Mafia leaders in big cities. But we think there are many ways to play poker. In fact, taking a gentle approach can throw opponents off-guard.
By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you... - II Corinthians 10:1
Some people expected the Messiah to come as a lion, taking vengeance on enemies of the Hebrews. Yet a speaker on Christian radio reminded us the other day that Jesus came as a lamb - and that approach made Him quite a game-changer. So in light of that....
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. - Philippians 4:5
How near? So near that he lives within believers, through the Holy Spirit (Colossians 1:27) - and that Spirit is how the fruit of gentleness is developed. So the next time a poker player asks you to "be gentle, now".... how will you react?
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