I have multiple personalities. One minute I am Nate, and the next minute I am... well... not Nate... One second I am completely in my right mind and the next I am almost in a fog, it's like someone else is taking over.. Sometimes it's me in the driver's seat, and sometimes it feels like it's someone else 'driving.'
Before you get too concerned about me. You have multiple personalities too. Yep, you heard me right! And you're about to know exactly what I mean. Let me be clear-- I am not referring to the actual mental illness of DID. Rather, I am referring to each of us having two different wills inside of us.
Everyone has one side that is moral and good. This side cares for others, and is concerned about being a good person. This side knows there is a God and wants to please Him. This side of us sits down and thinks about how to do better, how to break bad habits and how to start good habits. This side knows what is wrong and right, and pulls at our heart to do what is good.
Everyone has another side that is immoral. This side is driven by selfishness. This side wants wants fleshly pleasure and stops for nothing. This is the side that leaps out of us when we are angry. This is the side that has no concern for others, no concern for God, no concern for good versus evil. It's only concern is "me, me, me..."
For some, the good and moral "personality" is usually in the driver's seat. For some, the bad, immoral is usually in the drivers seat.
There are many times that the two "personalities" are both at odds with one another, and very present at the same time. Think about times you are tempted where both of these "personalities" are trying to take over the drivers seat. Part of you is screaming "don't do it! You know it's wrong," while the other personality is screaming "it's ok, it won't really hurt anything."
Okay, so... What's the point? There are many passages in the New Testament which call Christians to have be 'sober minded' and have 'self control.'
I think it's safe to say that self control is at the center of Christianity. The whole "deny self and follow" of Mark 8:34 is Christianity in a nutshell. If we learn how to have self control, the rest comes rather easily. There is no magic formula to self control. If there were, being a Christian would be a cake walk and that is simply not the case. I do not want to sit here and pour out all this wisdom on self control, because, frankly, I am working on it just as much as you are. However, I do want to suggest one very practical thing to think about in those moments where our self control is being tested--
Our self control fails and we fall to sin when that bad, immoral, selfish"personaity" sits down in the driver's seat. I believe that simply being aware of these "multiple personalities" and being able to identify which "personality" is talking will go incredible far when trying to be self controlled.
Next time you are tempted, think about these two personalities inside of you. Before you act, identify which "personality" is talking!