Childish Vs. Childlike

     I volunteer at my church by being a lector, which is a person who reads the bible out loud. This morning, I was given a part of the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians to read, and a line in it caught my attention.
    It reads, "When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things."
    When I first saw this, I was a surprised; I often like characteristics and experiences associated with childhood, and I don't think it's easy to just shed those things and leave them behind.
     I like to joke that I'm made of of two different people; a five year old and a thirty year old. The five year old side of me likes shiny things, birthday parties, disney movies, and playgrounds. That side also has an intense imagination. The thirty year old side is where I balance my responsibilities and attempt to get things done on time. At least, in my defense, 30 and 5 average out to be slightly over my age.
     My first opinion on the reading today was that it advised readers to stop having that five year old side, but then I realized there is a difference between being childish and childlike. Additionally, I think our society gets the two confused.
     Let me start with the definitions; according to my dictionary, childish is "silly and immature," whereas childlike is "having good qualities associated with a child." I think that our society often groups enjoying play, imagination, and enjoying activities we did as children into "silly and immature"  when those things don't belong to either category.
     I don't think our society actually thinks imagination or play is bad; James Cameron used his imagination to develop the world in Avatar, which has grossed almost $2 billion worldwide, and Apple's App Store, where plenty of games are available, has 140,000 apps.
    However, I think that adults are afraid of being associated with the negative aspects of children, such as wining or selfishness, so they are afraid to behave like kids in general.
     How do you think our society views adults having "childlike" characteristics? Should we see things that way?