Are you a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

Most of us have a little of both running through our veins…some of us are just better than others at controlling or hiding the hideous side of ourselves.

I doubt that Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson, realized when he was writing in the late eighteen hundreds the novella, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, that he would be creating a colloquialism with his title that would describe good versus evil so poignantly.

However, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the perfect example of our split personalities – you know where we have the angel sitting on one shoulder telling us to do the right thing and the red devil bouncing up and down on the other shoulder trying to get our attention!

It’s in the heat of this battle where our free will to choose comes into play.

Do we spew negative hatefulness that makes us feel better or do we hold our tongue, which is so much harder to do?

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. Proverbs 8:13

Clearly, God would rather us keep our mouth shut, our thoughts clean and our actions pure.

Easier said than done…especially when we are RIGHT!!!! Haha!!

I love how the Proverb calls out our pride and arrogance because don’t those two get us into trouble before we know it?!

Our pride makes us want to conceal our bad behaviors or not ask God for His help to navigate through life, where our arrogance brings a self-righteous flair to the table.

This self-righteousness is where our ego hits the roof.  It says that we deserve our fair share when we really don’t deserve jack squat.   It justifies our ugly words or actions because they make us feel better and put the other person in their place….  Sigh.

Love is a much harder path to take.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 1Corinthians 13:4-8

Love says to turn the other cheek, keep our mouth shut, forgive generously, give more and take the high road.  Love asks us to keep the peace when the world says a situation calls for vengeance.

Dr. Jekyll is the example of love that we want the world to see, but Mr. Hyde is always looking for a spot to rear his ugly head and cause havoc.

We shouldn’t deny that our Mr. Hyde exists, but we should deny our Mr. Hyde the benefit of jumping into the lime light and taking center stage as often as we do.

There was only One who was perfect, but we still have the choice to make when it comes to letting our Mr. Hyde out to play.

Are you doing a good enough job of controlling your Mr. Hyde?

Some Wisdom for Today:  Proverbs 10:12 – Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.