From One Sport to Another

It looks like the poker debate is over -- well, at least one of them.  Poker is not simply a table game. It's a sport.

We say that because of the former sports stars playing it, and succeeding.  Former Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo (left) finished deep in the money this week, on a PokerStars Caribbean cruise.  In fact, notice the logo on his shirt-sleeve.  He's apparently joined "Team Poker Stars," which includes tennis champion Rafael Nadal.

He's not the only former athlete who's made the transition.  Former big-league baseball players had their own poker tournament in Las Vegas this week.  And who can forget Orel Hershiser asking defeated poker pros to sign his baseball on TV several years ago, at the National Heads-Up Championship?

We don't know the complete motive for this movement.  But perhaps current and former sports stars play poker for the competitive thrill of it -- providing them another opportunity to be a big winner.

But you might not need to play poker to enjoy such a thrill.  Consider what one Biblical leader wrote:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. - I Corinthians 9:24

The apostle Paul called for a "race" -- and not between A-10 and K-J.  He urged believers to run for some other kind of "prize."  What's he talking about?

No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. - I Corinthians 9:27

Paul wanted that "prize" so much that put himself under discipline.  He finally explains what that prize is later in this letter:

Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, his Scripture will be fulfilled: "Death is swallowed up in victory...."  But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. - I Corinthians 15:54, 57 (NLT)

The ultimate prize is a body "that will never die" - a body with eternal life.  That's offered to you through Jesus, if you run a disciplined race in this life.  And here's the best part: you're not really competing against other people to get it.

But the one who endures to the end will be saved. - Matthew 24:13 (NLT)

We think that means everyone who stands firm. Are you willing to make the transition to this sort of endurance contest -- a race with the greatest prize of all at stake?