Put Away Childish Things

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me."

When I Was a Child:

I was most content as a child while watching cartoons on TV, playing Atari or playing with handheld games. I'm not sure if this was due to being uncomfortable around my peers or if it was simply that enjoyable. All I know is that I would become immersed in games to the point that I would usually dream or daydream about whatever game I was currently playing. My parents would put limits on the time my siblings and I would spend playing games, but we would often find our way around the imposed limits. By doing so I spent a large amount of my youth either playing games or thinking about the next game I could play.

As I grew to adulthood the enthusiasm for gaming didn't decrease in any way. The only periods of my life that weren't full of gaming were when I had no computer or game console. College, work, marriage and even my precious daughters did very little to distract me from the now overwhelming desire to play games. I began playing more immersive, time consuming games and surrounding myself with those who showed similar desire.

When I Became a Man:

For the last 27 years I have been primarily playing computer games. I could always justify the cost by doing extra work, but I felt that I was balancing time with my family well enough. I would occasionally realize how much time I was stealing from my family and curb my gaming for a time, but I would end up once more spending increasing amounts of time gaming.

Within that last few years a newer and very addicting type of game has rocketed into popularity. The games allow people from all around the globe connect and play together. Most of them involve huge amounts of time. I found myself increasing the amount of time I was playing to the point that I would very regularly go until the early hours of the morning. In the last two or three years I have not even tried to fight what was now, for me, a raging addiction.

Just over a week ago I began to fight it once more. Our Bible fellowship class has been studying the Revelation and though I've missed several of the classes I was thinking about the messaages to the churches. Each church was given either an encouragment or a rebuke to get them back on the path that God had for them. I found some of those passages fitting my situation quite well. I am praying that this will be a whole new chapter and that I may, as a man, "level up" to what God can make of me.