Thought of the Day 09.09.09

I realize not all of you will appreciate this, but I enjoy watching the World Series of Poker. I’m fascinated both by the characters who play and by the intensity of the game played at that level. But one thing that I’ve noticed this time around is the difference between how the celebrities and the professional poker players behave when they get eliminated.

When the celebrities lose, they generally seem fairly happy in spite of the fact. In contrast, when pros get eliminated, they often seem truly devastated. But why the big difference? You might think it’s because the $10,000 entrance fee means so little to boxers and TV stars who make millions a year, but the poker pros play with sums of money like that all the time.

Far more than money is at stake here. See, when a TV star loses at poker, he still has his acting accomplishments to validate him. But when a poker pro loses, he’s failed at what makes him who he is. His identity has been challenged, and for a time he really doesn’t know his place in the universe.

In a nutshell, this is why Christians can be happy in any circumstance. Since our identity is based only on Christ, we know who we are in spite of any endeavor we might fail at. Truly, we are always TV stars just playing in the world’s poker tournament.