What kind of poker player are you? And when the cards are right, are you willing to go “all in?”
In the Bible, Jesus often taught using parables, which were metaphorical stories used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. In this article, playing poker is used as a metaphor for how we approach the game of life, especially as related to our spiritual growth and relationship with God. Because there are parallels between poker and our spiritual life:
- There are rules to be followed, but flexibility for how to play the cards we are dealt.
- Many of the cards remain hidden, so there are things we must discern along the way.
- Our choices influence how well we do, but we are not in total control of the outcome.
“Life, like poker has an element of risk. It shouldn’t be avoided. It should be faced.” (Edward Norton)
When we look at different types of poker players, we can learn some lessons about how people play the game of life.
Some people pride themselves on their intellect and being clever enough to outsmart other players to win. Sometimes, their overconfidence betrays them, and they lose the game by misjudging a hand they thought they had all figured out.
Other players are cautious and drop out of any hand when they are not absolutely positive their cards are good enough. Therefore, their game becomes a slow process of losing, because they are not really choosing to engage in the game at all.
There are some players willing to do anything to win, even cheat if they can get away with it. Occasionally, this approach may seem to pay off for a while, but it doesn’t work in the long run, and they lose not only the game but their character as well.
And many players see the only objective as winning the most chips, and they don’t enjoy the game at all unless that is the end result. And even if they do win, they soon find themselves wanting more, because they still don’t have enough.
Do any of these poker players seem familiar to you?
There is another lesson we can discern from poker players. At some point in a game, a player may recognize they have been dealt what seems to be a winning hand, but they can’t be sure because some cards remain hidden. They have a decision to make: do they play it safe and rely only on what they see and control, or do they go “all in” and put their chips on the table?
“But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 4:29)
But there are also differences between playing poker and how we manage our relationship with God. When we go “all in” for God, the good news is we can’t lose, because he controls the cards, and he wants us to win! But “winning” in God’s eyes is not showing everyone how smart we are, playing it safe, beating the other players, or having the most chips.
The real stakes are much higher than that.
Parables help us think about life more deeply. After this one, what kind of poker player do you think you are?
