Cheating With Aces

How many poker games have been won by the guy who was willing to cheat just a bit to gain the right hand. Maybe he uses a magic deck of cards; maybe he some how marks cards in the game by bending a tip or corner; maybe he has learned how to read cards off of peoples coffee or pupils; maybe he has everyone in the room on his team except for a chosen victim. Cheating simply gives one person a great advantage over the other, the cheater knows more information and keeps the other in the dark.

Paul played a fair game. He tells the Corinthians in II Corinthians 6:11 that he had shared freely with them from his heart, that in fact his heart was wide open to them. Paul was vulnerable, open, trusting, free from deception, transparent, sincere... Everyone knows the joy of an honest game played equally and for fun, but just as much we also know how horrible things go when someone cheats.

By holding back emotional cards, private information, facts, and tidbits of insight, we can gain the upper hand over others. It is a way of “attempting” to control things. This is what the Corinthians were doing, in verse 12 Paul says that the Corinthians were restraining themselves, and Paul clarifies you are not restrained by us, you are choosing to restrain yourself. The truth is that we do not have to control the outcomes of relationships, in fact we can't. God is in control of the outcomes. If we live righteously God guarantees good outcomes, if we choose evil, then we receive bad outcomes.

This goes one step further, is attempting to control the outcome by restraining information and feelings righteous or unrighteous? Paul is correcting the Corinthians so we know that this activity was wrong so it is always going to have harmful effects. This does not mean that we should then let loose all that we think and feel in an unrestrained manner. What it does mean is that we have to carefully

present our thoughts and emotions to others, we have to trust them, we have to give people an opportunity to love us. Without this openness love is hindered and can not readily flow between human beings. Jesus chose to be vulnerable to the point of death, Paul was vulnerable to the point of prison and beatings, can we not be vulnerable enough to have friends?