I know a great many people, late teens through thirties, facing a chronic adolescence. Some take pride in their prolonged immaturity, others are ashamed of it. There are many that live games; video games, board games, card games, whatever kind of game you can imagine.
I want to point out that i have this immaturity issue as well, in many ways, and it's by a force of will that it is put to rest. This was once a crutch of mine; as someone who was vying for the top position of the worldwide leaderboard on a video game, six hours of this video game in a single day was not uncommon. It's shameful in hindsight, but at the time i took pride in it.
It can be about music, movies, tv shows, books, anything that keeps us "amused" (from the Greek, meaning non-inspired).
I want to say that if you're more concerned knowing the top 200 on the Billboard charts than you are about knowing your Maker, you have messed up priorities. If you'are more excited about seeing that movie than you are about seeing a life changed, you have messed up priorities. In fact, Christ demands we hate all else in comparison to Him.
God's first command to us was to multiply and fill the earth; this is to be productive, not to just exist here. Be productive! Get up, go outside, build something (maybe a legitimate relationship), work towards a goal, accomplish it, be productive. Fill the earth. What purpose or skill set is that remote control nurturing but more immaturity? It serves no purpose in life. None. It is a- (meaning non) musing (meaning inspiring). Amusements, amusements, amusements. That's what society tells us makes us happy.
With this immature generation and its lack of "growing up," for lack of better term, comes a gross lack of responsibility. We have people who lack the commitment to stay with one person for more than a few months, people who are convinced that everything is someone else's fault; in this we have twenty-five year olds who are financially broke despite every chance given to them (myself), thirty year olds who blame every circumstance for their present state, and this is wrong.
Society has convinced those my age that nothing is our fault, that our problems are caused by others; we're poor because of the rich-class, we're depressed because others bully us, we have acne because of our genes--it doesn't end.
More than this, we have a tendency to blame God, saying that we wouldn't have eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, but we're fools. We say it's not fair for us to die because of the sin of Adam. We say a lot of things, but i want to offer a question: are we paying for Adam's sin, or for our own? We can't blame God, we can't blame Adam, we can't blame our parents. No one will be standing beside us on the Day of Judgement, none to point fingers at, none to place the blame on; just you and God, just me and God, each of us, alone with our sin and the Judge.
In this same train of thought, we can't blame external forces for our misfortunes.
I am currently trying to make up for years of financial frivolousness, and i could sit here and say it's my parents fault for having not been more stern about teaching me to budget, but it comes down to this; i was stupid, i was careless, and i made mistakes. Instead of saving money and investing wisely, i spent my paycheck. And i know many others who do the same. But i can't blame my parents, the financial system, or anyone but myself.
If you can't get out of your rut, then get out and push. Roll up your sleeves, get dirty, do something about it. For me, the hardest thing has been to learn financial responsibility. It's taken me a lot of work, and a seriously force of will, but i have learned to budget.
We must all put down the remote, the games, the movies, and grow up. We must stop blaming others, realize the fault is our own, and start working today, in our means, to right the wrongs we've done.
It's not Adam's sin, it's ours. We will be alone in front of the Throne of Judgement. We will have no one to blame. We can't say, "It's their fault."
It's your fault. And it's my fault.
The best thing we can do is acknowledge that, and begin working to fix it by prayer and much of your own effort. Faith without works is dead; what use is praying if you don't do your own part?
Work. Toil. Step away from your entertainment. Do what makes you uncomfortable. Live. Mature. And stop blaming others.
