Along the Way

The Good an the Bad

Pride is insidiously deceptive. I have discovered that even when I do what is good and right I am prone to self-centeredness. This reality was graphically illustrated to me recently while listening to Robert Lewis Stevenson's The Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In reflecting on my own life, it turns out that the case was not so strange after all.

Dr. Jekyll comes to the self-discovery that he has two opposing impulses at work within him: good and evil. Furthermore, his bad nature is holding his good nature back. And so, he develops a potion that can separate the good from the bad. His intention is to free the good self from the influence of the bad self and then he will be able to accomplish all of his good goals. However, upon taking the potion, he comes to the realization that his bad side is far more evil than he expected and he is irresistibly drawn to the evil more than the good. He says,

"I knew myself, at the first breath of this new life, to be more wicked, tenfold more wicked, sold a slave to my original evil; and the thought in that moment, braced and delighted me like wine . . . [Edward Hyde's] every act and thought centered on self."

Dr. Jekyll's confession reminds me of the Apostle Paul's struggle and my own: "I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. . . . I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing." (Romans 7:14-15, 17-18).

Jekyll, determined to overcome his evil inclinations of self-centeredness and pride, resolves not to take the potion anymore. He devotes himself to charity and good works in an attempt to defeat his selfish nature and atone for the wrong Edward Hyde has done.

However, something strange happens while he is alone on a park bench reflecting on all the good he has been doing and how much better a man he was than most people.

"I resolved in my future conduct to redeem the past; and I can say with honesty that my resolve was fruitful of some good. You know how earnestly, in the last months of the last year, I labored to relieve suffering; you know that much was done for others. . . . [But as] I smiled, comparing myself with other men, comparing my active good will with the lazy cruelty of their neglect . . . at the very moment of that vain-glorious thought, a qualm came over me, a horrid nausea and the most dreadful shuddering. . . . I looked down. . . . I was once more Edward Hyde."

For the first time Jekyll becomes Hyde without the potion. This realization that he is unable to control his transformations leads him to despair and suicide. Why would Jekyll become Hyde without the potion? Like so many of us, Jekyll knows he is a sinner, so he tries desperately to cover his sin with good works. Yet his efforts do not actually diminish his pride and self-centeredness, they only aggravate it. They stir up within him prejudice, self-righteousness and pride. The transformation occurs because of his goodness.

The good news is that there is a powerful principle available to overcome the deceitfulness of self-righteousness - it is through the renewing power of the Spirit of God. Jesus Christ has broken the bondage of sin and death upon our lives by his death and resurrection. By grace he has imparted his righteousness to us by the presence of his Spirit in our lives. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1-2).