“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”—Luke 6:37
I left church that sunshiny morning feeling a bit smug. The sermon had been a stern attack on the “big three”—alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. I could be smug. I was a non-smoker, non-drinker, who had never touched hard drugs, and I felt a benign kind of pity for those who had.
And then the Lord, as He so frequently does, popped my balloon. He reminded me in clear “instant replays” of times when I had been: “drunk” with the pride of overcoming these temptations; “smoking” over the way I’d been slighted by a busy salesclerk; had “hangovers” of depression when life didn’t give me what I thought I deserved.
A quiet voice seemed to say, “Shall I go on?”
Contritely I replied, “No, thanks. I’ve got the message.”
And the message was that I could do as much damage to myself by pride, greed, envy, hatred and fear, as I could by consuming harmful substances.
