Table Non-Talk

The player to our left had a good hand, but lost the pot to something better.

"There are some words in my mind, that I could say," he muttered.  But he didn't, holding them in.

A few hands later, that same man won a big pot.  "Are your words better now?" he asked.

"Naw," he admitted.  "I'm a degenerate...."

That's too bad for him.  But it's a helpful lesson for the rest of us -- about what we're thinking and saying:

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things. - Philippians 4:8

These thoughts certainly beat the alternative -- thinking about things which are false, wrong, impure or ugly.

But we give this man credit for keeping those bad words inside him, and not letting them out.  That kind of self-control is hard for some people to do.

....For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. - Matthew 12:34b

We think it takes help from "above" to keep your mouth in line, especially when poker pressures mount or a bad beat happens.  That help can come from God, through the Holy Spirit.  Have you repented of your degenerate ways before God, to allow that Spirit to work in you?