Playing poker with God

When playing poker, it's always best to keep the opponents guessing until you're ready to start your cards. Poker players often enjoy misdirecting the opposite players for the strength of their hand with the intent of manipulating their decisions. Poker is definately a popular game because nobody really knows who props up best cards prior to the very end when everyone's hand is revealed. When looking at betting about how far better to please God and ourselves, life's choices can seem just like playing poker.
Traditional Christians are betting that believing in Jesus as his or her Lord and Savior is a lot like holding the ultimate wild card that trumps all the others. For Muslims, believing within the five pillars of Islam might be analogous to holding the five best cards in the deck. The Hindus' belief in reincarnation can be seen as using an unlimited level of poker hands and cash to play until we succeed. Buddhists might see the highest goal as every player at the table holding cards that end up with a balanced draw for anyone.
It is not hard to find out in making use of this poker analogy that not so many people are playing from the same rules and might believe anyone not following their rules isn't playing with the full deck. But then the good question arises, 'Are we playing poker and competing with each other or, are we playing poker with/against God'? That may seem like an odd and also inappropriate question but the response is worth exploring.
Most religions agree that God is all-powerful and all-knowing. Playing poker with God clearly takes away any bluffing strategies. Realizing God can stack the deck in a order He likes regardless how the cards are shuffled and cut means the results has already been assured even before the action begins. It really all is dependant on what we believe God's goal what food was in creating us within the first place.
Many Christians feel God's passion for us is conditional and our salvation is merely achieved by deciding on the winning wildcard (salvation through Jesus) obviously any good moment before we die. Others still feel that we earn our salvation through our choices and deeds done on God's behalf. The Bible tells us that God is unwilling for almost any repentant soul to perish, so some place their faith in God's desire to stack those times of life within our favor to ensure that all His children are eventually saved despite having provided us with free will. So, exactly like with poker, there are tons of bets up for grabs of life but no person knows the solution until all the cards are revealed so we cash in our chips. But think on this'
If God truly is love, is all-knowing and all-powerful, and is also the most wonderful parent we will ever imagine, will we really think there are any cards He is holding that He won't tell us? Do we presume He would create even one soul that won't eventually be saved at the time with their choosing instead of check here irreversibly condemned? Do we think God cannot or unwilling to avoid wasting all His children but deciding we ought to have free will? If so, we have formulated an incorrect God within our own less-than-perfect image rather than doing all we could to measure up and 'Be ye therefore perfect' as Jesus taught and showed us.
The only sure bet we've in life is always that God has stacked occasions in our favor. We usually stays losers as long as we wish, for all of us have free will, but our separation from Him isn't will of our loving Father. The approach to actually win is to learn by His rules of unconditional love following the Golden Rule as well as the perfect role model consideration to us through the life of Jesus. Once we all do, then life's not only a game of ups-and-downs, but instead a limitless experience of love and joy in God's abundant universe.
As always, I welcome the questions you have and comments at [email protected].

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