What's Your Identity?

It's almost "World Series" season in the poker world - but today, some players may have been thrown a curve.

The World Series of Poker announced via Twitter people coming from outside the U.S. will need two forms of identification.  A passport will not be enough.  The second ID with a current address is supposed to guard against "money laundering."

That explanation is a little scary to consider.  Money laundering?! Are some top poker players dealing with drug cartels, and not telling anyone?

But we're more interested in the identity part of this.  How do you identify yourself to others at a poker table?  Are you a professional poker player?  An "amateur," who works five days a week somewhere else and hits the table merely for fun?

For several years, we've taken a "poker identity" which seems strange to many people.  But it's the identity we truly try to have -- as a Christian.

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. - Colossians 3:3

Sound strange?  The apostle Paul explains elsewhere what he means.

Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world.... - Colossians 2:20

This world's "principles" often aren't really rooted in ethical principle.  Take poker -- a game about getting and grabbing all the chips you can, as opposed to giving and sharing them with others.

Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death.... - Romans 6:3-4

Jesus died - and baptism is part of the process for accepting Him as your Savior.  But the good news is that Jesus rose again:

....Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. - Romans 6:4b

It's supposed to be a godly life, walking as Jesus walked.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. - Colossians 3:4

The "new life" for a believer should actually be Christ's life, being lived in us.  We have the same human name - but a new way of living.

May your "ID badge" be that of a Christian - shown not with a passport, but with a new outlook on life:

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. - John 13:35