Black Ops vs The Word

While playing some Catan the other night on Xbox Live, my good buddy Ben (Death is Gain) and I were talking about how much time we had spent playing Call of Duty Black Ops since it's November 9th 2010 release. Both of us had in the mid 70's worth of hours played in just the multiplayer portion of the game. We talked about how just looking at that number of hours turned into a conviction about how much of our God given time we spend on things like evangelism, prayer and reading the Bible compared to our game time. Despite the facts that we, along with other members of DiG, have taken on the task of memorizing Philippians(yes the whole thing lol) and that we use Black Ops to share Jesus with lost gamers, we still have some major convictions about the time we spend online. After careful examination of the numbers, I hope you agree that we should all make more time for God's Word. Here is a breakdown of the time that has been available, no gifted to us, since November 2010.




*93 Days
*2232 Hours (total) and counting
*520 Hours of work (based on a 40 hour work week)
*546 Hours of sleep (based on 6 hours a night)
*74.2 Hours of Black Ops Multiplayer (SaulBecomesPaul's Total playing time)

At first glance one might say that 74, 75, even 80 hours of game playing isn't really that much when looking at the other numbers. Remember though that Ben and I are both more casual gamers than quite a bit of people on our friends list though our wives might disagree lol. Irregardless, we have many Christian friends who are way out ahead of us in prestige and rank because of the hours they have put into this game. All of that aside, here's the part that gets to the heart of the matter.

Based on someone reading the Bible a generous 5 chapters a day at roughly 5 minutes per chapter, that adds up to 38.75 hours in the Word of God for that person since November 9, 2010.

Have I read more than that? Less than that? Probably, no I'm sure, the latter. This is as much a wake up call for me as it is for any gamer reading this right now. Especially with the new First Strike map pack out for the already great Call of Duty game. I know that a lot of our readers and I will be spending time trying to learn the nooks and crannies of Kowloon, Berlin Wall, Stadium and Discovery. But what about the meat of God's Word? Shouldn't our thumbs be furiously flipping through those love filled pages in light of the times we are living in rather than wrapped around our controllers? Maybe we won't pass our playing time with time in the Word but we should be at least be getting close. The Xbox has saved us from nothing. Jesus has written your name in the book of life through His bloody death on that Roman cross. And yet our Bibles don't open. He has given you the hope of Heaven, yet we rush out to church when we can and maybe we remember to bring our Bibles with us. Something just doesn't sit right with this one guys. The Word is exciting. Dig into it. Tear into it. Learn it. Love it. Yearn for it. No Bible, no breakfast. No read, no feed. Challenge yourself to not play games longer than you read your Bible this day and every day from now on. In the end Jesus doesn't care if you know how to take the zipline on the Kowloon map but He will care if you take the time to hear what He has to say in His Word. There are many online sites that are great for getting into God's Word. Here is a list of them.

Bible.is (audio)
Esvonline.org
Bible Gateway
Blue Letter Bible

Proverbs 4:5 (English Standard Version)

Get wisdom; get insight;
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

You're Gonna Need a Bigger Excuse

Alright we all know someone who says they don't read the Bible because it falls under their catch-all excuse of, "I just don't like to read." Now audio bibles can be very expensive and when I recommend them to non-readers that is usually the excuse they come up with. So with a nod to Jaws, "you're going to need a bigger excuse." Ben told me about an iPhone app a few days ago called Bible.is This app is amazing. It goes with the premise that "faith comes by hearing"(Romans 10:17) and has the complete bible on audio in both the KJV(King James Version) and ESV(English Standard Version). It also has the bible in upwards of 100 different languages. The best part about the app is that it is completely free! iPhone owners who don't read the Word because they "don't like to" are completely without excuse thanks to this app. Now, people who do not own the iPhone, please don't think you are getting out of this easy. Bible.is also has a website on your computer that has the same exact functionality as the amazing app. I recommend that everyone pick up Bible.is for your iPhones or visit their website and check it out. Stop hiding from God's Word and listen to what He has to say. If you're excuse now is that, "I just don't like to listen", well that's probably why you weren't reading His word to begin with. Finally for you obedient readers out there who just cant get enough of God's Living Word, check out the Accordance app on your iPhone. This bible app is ESV based and has a complete Greek and Hebrew dictionary. You can click on any English word and it will tell you the actual word used in the original languages. It is a fantastic app for those who want to get off of milk and get into the meat of God's Word.

Psalm 119:105 (English Standard Version)

Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.