Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Syndrome

Have you ever felt like you are Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at times?

You may wake up in a morning and feel all ready to conquer the day, to perform good works, to do what is right, to be nice and considerate. By the end of the day or on another day, you become less enthusiastic about doing good and deviates from what you know you should do, and choose to do the exact reverse. By nightfall, your mind may no longer be your own, and you occasionally lose your temper and indulge in sin.

This description may sound scary and extreme, but in reality, they are not too far from the truth, and in fact may be common. It is the conflict of two natures within you and I, a side that prefers darkness over the light.

Paul, the apostle, understands this when he writes the following:

For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. (Romans 7:15-23 NAS)

How then can we overcome the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde syndrome in us? Paul has asked a similar question when he said:

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? (Romans 7:24 NAS)

The answer is found in Paul's own words:

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:3 - 8:11 NAS)

Therefore, let us all learn from Paul and harness the strength that is in us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. If you, however, lack this power or have not given your life to Christ, do so now, and God will be more than willing to bless and you. As humans, we may still fall at times, but there is no need to despair. Just turn to Him, acknowledge your sin, and be renewed with His fresh anointing.