Staying Sober

I am often amazed at how fickle my flesh can be. A few weeks ago I wrote about the rollercoaster ride that is the baseball season. One day your team is on a 4 or 5 game winning streak and everyone seems to see a beach ball coming to the plate. A week later they could be in the throes of a 5 game slide.

I play a lot of chess on Stan's Net Chess. I like this site because it's like correspondence chess, but it's done online. That means that it can almost be like live chess if both players are at their computers and have the time to make moves. If you'd like to challenge me to a game you can find me under "Scraptacular" (there's a story there).

I recently won a few tournament games. For whatever reason I think I'm seeing the board well and making some good moves. I find that playing people is a lot more fun than playing computers since computers have a tendency not to make mistakes or to make very obvious ones. But people have various reasons to make moves and sometimes we all make blunders. All the games would be drawn if not, right?

The title of this article comes from 1 Peter. There are a couple of times where he commands sobriety in our thought:

(1Pe 1:13 ESV) Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

(1Pe 4:7 ESV) The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

(1Pe 5:8 ESV) Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.


Of course, it's sort of ironic to read this command from Peter who was the king of doing before thinking. He turned impulsiveness into an art form in speech and action.

But what this tells me is that I should enjoy life. I should enjoy winning a few chess games. I should enjoy it when my team goes on a hot streak. And it's OK for me to be a little bit down when the opposite happens. We seem to thrive on competition given how big an industry sports is. And so many people (mostly men) love playing games so much that there are many websites dedicated to just that. I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with it.

But I hate to let all these things disrupt my sobriety. I want to be level-headed about life as I cling to the Rock. Christ was immovable. Yes, He wept when Lazarus died. He obviously felt some things because of the number of times when we read that He was moved to compassion. But I also know that He kept the Father clearly in focus at all times and that saw Him through. And I also know that I am to keep Him and His cross in focus at all times and that will see me through.