Thinking of Yourself
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton
"For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith" (Romans 12:3).
When you left, one of your accusations was that you were smarter than I thought. I pointed out that I never said you were dumb. In fact, I would like you to put on your thinking cap and seriously, soberly look at what the last month of going at it alone has brought you.
- Are you happier?
- Are you pleased with what you are doing with your life?
- Are you looking forward to the future?
- Are you making the world a better place for yourself and those around you?
- Are you less controlled by Satan and his sins? Are you using less or more drugs and alcohol?
- If you died tomorrow, would you go to heaven? Would you be content with the life you lived?
- Would you want your niece or your future son to live the life you are currently living?
I guess that if you had stayed, you wouldn't have used much, if any, drugs because I would have been monitoring you too closely. You would have been away from the drugs long enough that you probably would have passed the drug screening test for the military. Your health and strength would be increasing as you got ready for the physical tests. Problems between you and your family and the church, while not totally resolved would have been in the process of being repaired as people saw you making an effort to improve yourself. By now some of the restrictions would have been lifted because the desire for marijuana would have started decreasing a bit.
Do you feel smart right now? Did you make the better choice? Were you an adult or a child when you insisted on doing this your way?
