Casting Down My Idol

Sometimes, a certain aspect of your life becomes so overly important that it's no longer beneficial to you. We call these things obsessions; the Bible refers to them as idols. These things aren't necessary bad in and of themselves. For example, hobbies are perfect for making the most out of your spare time and meeting cool people. However, if you cross the line and worship them, you will become childish and irresponsible. You will eventually abandon postpone life goals such as getting a career, starting a family, going to college, and finding your own home because it was more "fun" to watch movies, play video games, or watch sports. In extreme cases, it may lead to you abandoning your life goals completely and wasting away in a mediocre life because you are too distracted by "La-La Land" to achieve anything of significance. The idol which almost doomed me to this fate was my obsession with MMA. I thought that watching MMA would help me. I believed that observing the dedication and discipline of the fighters would inspire me to pursue my life goals. Unfortunately, there was one small hiccup: it was too much fun! I became addicted, and went from watching the pay-per-views as a monthly "night out" with friends to obsessing over it day and night. I read thousands of articles on the internet and watched hundreds of fights on Youtube. I followed dozens of fighters on Twitter and even considered ditching my life's calling to pursue it as a career (which would be nearly impossible to achieve at this point since I am in my late twenties). Then came the coup de gras: after the pay-per-views and TV events, I started oversleeping and missing church. After it happened again today, I finally realized that MMA had not just become more important than Christ in my life: it had replaced Him. So this afternoon, I decided to quit cold turkey and get my life back. No more PPVs. No more TV events. No more fights on Youtube or reading articles. I'm in my late twenties and Christ has called me to follow Him. I can't do that if I keep blowing him off to watch cage fights all of the time. Play time is over. It's time for me to get back to work.