An article we read shows Russia is #2 in the number of players on PokerStars, behind the U.S. Even top Russian chess players are crossing over from 64 squares to 52 cards - even though online poker for money is as illegal there as it is in most of the U.S.
There's now a proposal to add poker to the "International Mind Sports Association." We never knew there was such a thing - a union for everything from chess and checkers to contract bridge.
Whether or not poker joins this union may depend on whether poker is considered a game of skill, or simply chance. You're welcome to debate that classic question in our comments. But in the meantime, may we interest you in a different kind of mind game?
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.... - Philippians 2:5 (KJV)
Well, maybe we shouldn't call this a "game." It's a challenge to keep your thinking as pure and holy as that of Jesus, the Son of God.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. - II Timothy 1:7 (KJV)
The word "sound" here is translated in other Bible versions as "disciplined." Jesus kept a disciplined mind, so He would not cave in to the sins all around Him. Those same sins remain around us today, albeit in different forms.
....Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.... Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. - Philippians 3:18-20
Keeping your mind on godly, heavenly things admittedly isn't easy. But we think the challenge is worth it. Being a friend of God (as opposed to an enemy) can pay off ultimately in eternal life, and a place in God's Kingdom. So, if we may ask - what's on your mind these days?
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