When I was a kid, one of my favorite foods was the frozen Totinos pizzas, you know, the ones that cost 99 cents, and are made out of cardboard? they had about 14 strands of pretend cheese, and hot dogs chopped into small pieces pretending to be pepperoni. They were amazing.

As time passed, though, my tastes changed, and I graduated to the luxurious world of Little Caesars pizza. What a difference! It had round pepperoni, a product resembling actual cheese, and only turned into cardboard after it cooled down. Unbelievable.

But, as time continued to pass, I again graduated to better, more advanced pizzas, Papa John’s, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, and finally- The Pie, Fat Jack’s, and Barro’s. I had reached the top, the pinnacle of pizza. Or, so I thought.

A few months ago, my wife and I discovered the best pizza on the planet, it was in a Tom Douglass (famous chef) restaurant in Seattle called Serious Pie. It just serves custom made pizza made from all fresh local ingredients, and my mind was blown. How could anything taste that good? When you have experienced celestial pizza, you no longer need or want telestial pizza (Totinos has since been moved to outer darkness pizza).

Experiencing something that amazing made me forget all about Totinos, Caesars, Fat Jack, and Barros. I was no longer interested. It was a lot like eating a steak from Mastros City Hall (Tyson can attest), and then trying to chew on a rubber steak from chuck-o-rama. Having experienced something better, I didn’t want anything less.

This principle applies in all aspects of our life. Sometimes it’s just time to grow up, and grow out of those things in our childhood. Its all a part of developing ourselves into the best we can be. The scriptures talk about this principle as well….

“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

1 Corinthians 13:11

So what are the “childish things” that we need to put away? Totinos pizza is a good start, but beyond that, I think it all has to do with our mindset. We need to stop worrying, thinking, obsessing, about things that don’t matter. Things that may seem important and mean a lot to us now,  but in reality, are below our potential.

As a man, I think this means that we need to start acting like one. So what does that mean? It means knowing, really knowing who we are.  If we understand exactly who we are, we begin to act differently. Listen to what the Lord explains to us if we stand up, become a man, and start to put Him first in our life…

 “And their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their shield and their buckler; and I will gird up their loins, and they shall fight manfully for me; and their enemies shall be under their feet; and I will let fall the sword in their behalf, and by the fire of mine indignation will I preserve them.”

D&C 35:14

What bigger privilege could there be- than to grow up, stand up, and fight manfully for Jesus Christ? Sign me up. Do we want to be on the winning side in the most lop sided battle ever? Absolutely! But, we have to first “put away our childish things.”

When we rise up, and put away the lesser things that muddy our lives, we become closer to what we are supposed to become. Closer to who we are supposed to be- literal sons of God. We become closer to God, more like Him, and eventually we can become one with Him….

“I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was crucified for the sins of the world, even as many as will believe on my name, that they may become the sons of God, even one in me as I am one in the Father, as the Father is one in me, that we may be one.

DC 35:2

It may seem like a big deal to leave behind what we perceive as important. But, after serious pie, I forgot all about Totinos pizza. The person we become is a happier person, and a much more satisfied, and full person.  A person who hungers for more….

“But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life…”

1 Timothy 6

Hymn number 324 sums up perfectly the idea of getting up, forgetting the crappy cardboard pizza, realizing who we are, and acting like it!  Be a Man!

Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things
Give heart and soul and mind and strength
To serve the King of Kings.

Rise up, O men of God,
In one united throng.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
And end the night of wrong.

Rise up, O men of God!
Tread where his feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
Rise up, O men of God!