by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n
What do you see when you look into the mirror each day? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, but I suspect that any recent changes haven’t been improvements. Marijuana doesn’t just give you red eyes from all-night partying, addicts tend to get less and less concerned about their looks and personal hygiene. I doubt you’re an exception to the rule.<\/p>\n
“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does<\/em>” (James 1:21-25).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
What do you see when you look into your Bible? I know you call yourself Christian and congratulate yourself for going to church once a week, but how are you measuring up? Is your spirit, like your outer man, getting scruffy because you just can’t seem to bring yourself to care anymore? Marijuana addiction does do that to people. Joy is sapped out of life. The zeal for God is dying. You spend more time being angry than being happy. In fact, the only time you believe you’re happy is when you’re too stoned to care.<\/p>\n
I’m so sorry that you’ve decided to make yourself miserable. I continue to wonder when you will decide to return to true happiness and leave the chains of drugs behind. I continue to look for you, my friend, because I know you are still there underneath all that grime.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrior Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSearching for My Friend\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall by Jeffrey W. Hamilton What do you see when you look into the mirror each day? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, but I suspect that any recent changes haven’t been improvements. Marijuana doesn’t just give you red eyes from all-night partying, addicts tend to get less and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":25976,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-65776","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25976,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/searching-for-my-friend\/","url_meta":{"origin":65776,"position":0},"title":"Searching for My Friend","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Searching for My Friend by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Once again I lost a dear young friend to the seductive snare of drugs. It grieves me to the depth of my heart to see a life full of potential and capable of great joy being twisted toward ruin, sadness, and loneliness.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Searching.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24560,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/the-corinthian-letters\/spiritual-gifts-the-greatest-gift-is-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":65776,"position":1},"title":"Spiritual Gifts: The Greatest Gift is Love","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Spiritual Gifts: The Greatest Gift is Love The need for love\u00a0(I Corinthians 13:1-3) Love is what makes all other gifts and actions worthwhile. If Paul was able to speak all the languages of men and angels, it would be just noise if he did not have love. Notice that Paul\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50549,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/remember-a-study-of-ii-peter\/prayer-for-growth\/","url_meta":{"origin":65776,"position":2},"title":"Prayer for Growth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Prayer for Growth Text: II Peter 1:2-11 What Knowledge Brings - II Peter 1:2-4 Peter begins with a blessing to his readers. He desires that they receive grace and peace in abundance. The phrase \"grace and peace be multiplied to you\" is found only here and in I Peter 1:2\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15623,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/moral-principles-for-young-people-volume-ii\/shipwrecked\/","url_meta":{"origin":65776,"position":3},"title":"Shipwrecked","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Shipwrecked by Steven Braman Let me tell you about my evening. I was eating dinner in Shanghai. I picked a little restaurant near the hotel called Johnny Moo. It is a knock off of Johnny Rockets. Basically a '50's style burger joint. I had a cheeseburger, fries and a banana\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/shipwreck.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":65000,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-john\/the-blind-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":65776,"position":4},"title":"The Blind Man","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 25, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Blind Man Text: John 9 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The disciples wondered what often is curious to us, \u201cWhere does suffering come from?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We understand that God controls his creation. We know that God is all knowing. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Suffering is generally viewed as a punishment. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But that is not what the Scriptures teach. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Suffering,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17534,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/the-gospel-accounts-a-chronological-harmony\/jesus-authority-questioned\/","url_meta":{"origin":65776,"position":5},"title":"Jesus’ Authority Questioned","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Jesus' Authority Questioned Reading Assignment: John 5:1-47 Exodus 20:10 Did you understand what you read? What town is Jesus in? What brought him here? What unusual thing happened at the pool by the Sheep's Gate? What did Jesus do for one sick man? How long was that man ill? Did\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/pool_of_bethesda.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65776\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}