It's interesting how really quick statements made by people you don't know can sometimes really affect how you think. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, so bear with me or don't. I certainly make no promises that this post will be WoW related.
Earlier today I was browsing around on some blogs and ran across one that had obviously finished in the not to distant past. Usually I just skip these but I decided to read her (I'm vaguely guessing) final post just to see how she finished it. Most of the post was fairly standard but down at the bottom there was a paragraph that got me thinking.
"There are many forms of happiness and fulfillment, I feel like it'd be a shame to miss out. I'd hate to think that at the end of my life, when I finally see God face to face, he'd pat me on the head and point out all the things that he had in store for me that I couldn't see---"you were doing it wrong.""
It really got me thinking about why I do what I do. For example, why do I play video games? Well because I enjoy them. Why do I read books? Much the same, they provoke my thinking and let me drift in different worlds (I may come back to this point later). But more then that it disturbed me, and I couldn't figure out why.
I mean, does God have certain lines of fun planned out for us? Does he demand we "diversify our" fun/joy "options"? I personally don't think he's that picky about what we spend out time doing. Now that sounds bad. That sounds REALLY bad. But let me finish, while I certainly don't think he cares what we do, I most heartily believe he's DEEPLY concerned with WHY we do it.
Am I arguing semantics? I don't think so. Let me give you a quick example of when the why matters very, very much. Let's say you're rock climbing up a 2000ft sheer cliff via ropes and pulleys and you loose your footing. Suddenly you're dangling 1000ft above hard rock, an obviously fatal fall. So you cut the rope.
I'll give you two situations. First: You're rock climbing by yourself. What you did was completely wrong, you might still be able to save yourself and I'd put your giving up on a level with committing suicide. Second: You're rock climbing with other people. You're the last person on the rope and you can see that top pulley and see it slowly coming out of the rock. There's simply to much weight on it, but if you sacrifice yourself, it will hold the others above you and allow them to live.
See what I mean? The exact same action. You committed yourself to death either way, but the key difference is why you did it. Now, do I believe the way I spend my time is wrong? Not exactly.
You'll remember the parable of the talents in Matthew (and Luke). The master gave them the money and left. Two of the servants returned the money and said "Here's your money, and here's some more we made while we had it." He rewarded and complimented these. The third servant returned the money and said "Here's your money, I know you're a hard man so I hid the money to make sure I had it to give back to you." The master cursed this one, calling him evil and lazy.
Where I'm going with this is the reason the master was mad at the third servant, other then the insults. The third one didn't do anything with the money out of fear of the master, because of that fear he cost the master an opportunity. Had the servants reasons been honestly different I think there would have been a different response from the master.
For example had he not invested the money because he honestly thought he'd end up losing more on the market then just holding on to it. Well, he might be construed as stupid, but not wicked and lazy. After all, he analyzed the market to the best of his ability, and decided it would be a bad idea to invest it.
Now how does this effect me? Well it might not that much. I need to sit down and think about how I spend my "free time" (when I say free time I mean the time I spend having fun after all the work that needs to be done or has to be done is done. how I determine the amount of the free time is a totally different matter).
So let's look at the different types of things that are important in my free time. First glorifying God, as this is my primary reason for being here it belongs in all of my time. Second investing in others, the Bible constantly refers to us as a "family" and "body" so I believe it's important to minister (and sometimes the joke off the back of a laughy taffy is ministry) to others. Third the amount of fun or joy I derive from the activity, the psalms say there is a time for everything, including laughter, and should I not get as much fun/joy out of every minute of my fun/joy time then I'm being wasteful.
Which just leaves the question, why do I play/read the things I do? Do I simply do it because I've gotten joy from it before? Or do I do it because I believe that I can get the most joy out of it? Right at the moment I don't think it will change that much, but we'll have to see.
~joe/ishvi
