Playing Games With God? - A Look At Gaming Addiction

     In this age of technology and the internet, there are so many new things to experience that we never had to deal with in the past. A few years ago, my daughter found an online kid’s game that was so different from anything I had ever seen.  I was mesmerized. Most of the characters on the game were actual people (and mostly adults) from all over the United States playing the same game I was playing! It was amazing! I love games, I love technology and I love competing and working tasks, so this game was right up my alley. Little did I know that I would become addicted to this online game and spend countless hours over the next three years of my life playing games and wasting my time. I’m all for spending time relaxing and being entertained, but this had gone too far. 
     How did I know I was addicted? I pretty much knew all along. But I justified it because it was a harmless game! There was nothing bad about it. Even my children were allowed to play. And, of course, I had to help them!  It was a time to bond, right?  But one phrase kept coming up over and over and clued me in to know that I was truly addicted. While chatting with other people playing the game, I could hardly go a day without saying or hearing, “This game is so addictive!” Deep down, I knew I was addicted. The game was all-consuming. I would wake up thinking about it and I would play it until I went to bed. Somehow, I still found time to spend my cursory time with God and my bible study, but most of my time was spent playing the game and reaching the next level.
     As I became more aware of my addiction, I started talking to God about it. I knew it was taking too much of my time, but the pull was very strong to keep playing. I knew I had removed God from the center of my life and put an idol there instead. So I asked God to remove the desire from me to play, and, thank God, I was eventually set free! But it was not without some pain and there wasn’t instant freedom. After a while, I eventually became strong enough, through God’s grace, to quit playing for about 9 months. I filled my extra time with bible study and more time with God. When Christmas came around with the extra vacation time that it brings, I found myself thinking about playing again. So I bought some time on the game. But you know what? I found that God really had changed my desire! I felt dead to the game.  I actually felt the way the verse in Romans 6:11 tells us to "count yourself dead to sin but alive to God through Jesus Christ". It didn’t have that same pull on me anymore. Now I’m able to play the game in a balanced way. I buy some time on it here and there when we have some vacation. But even then I know the plans God has for me, and it’s not to waste my time playing games! I’ve had a call on my life for a number of years, and this was a definite detour to what God has for me to do. We do have an enemy who knows our weaknesses. And he will use them to keep us from what God has for us. Don’t let him keep you from God’s purpose for your life! When you pray and ask God to make His desires your desires, He’s going to answer that prayer because it lines up with His will. You can overcome addictions because "He who is in you is greater than He who is in the world." (1 Jn 4:4)  Don’t give the devil a foothold and continue to waste your life bowing down to something that is not God. Let’s give up playing games with God and move on to what He has for us to do!

Dear Heavenly Father,
There are things in this world that have a pull on me that are keeping me from the plan You have for my life. Please forgive me for putting other things ahead of You. I ask You to give me the desires of Your heart, and take away these fleshly desires that have kept me from your purpose long enough. I pray this in the mighty name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.