March 5, 2021 (Friday)
Today is one of those days that somebody has designated as special, set aside for a purpose. The day is “Multiple Personality Disorder” day. Actually, that is a misnomer because science has labeled the disorder with a different name, “Dissociative Identity Disorder.” Whatever you call it, it helps authors to make up wild stories, like Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,” a classic if there ever was one. Modern movies have taken the idea to extremes, such as Tom Hanks’ six different characters in Cloud Atlas and the movie, Split, which reveals 24 personalities in one person. Many other movies have been made through the years that would have us believe that one person could actually be a number of people, each person with a different personality.
These movie representations of a mental problem are fictional accounts whereas Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is a mental condition now thought to be more of a fragmentation of identity than a proliferation of separate personalities. In other words, the depiction of a person who may appear from time to time to be one of many personalities distinct from each other is fiction, entertaining but not representative of true life.
The Bible does not deal with this subject, but it does record a scene in which Jesus accuses the religious leaders of His day of hypocrisy, which is conscious deception and not mental illness. He told them, “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity” (Matthew 23:27 NLT). The word “hypocrite,” literally means play actor. A hypocrite is one kind of person portraying another kind of person. We do not need much explanation of the words of Jesus here. He speaks plainly. He does not want me to play the part of a Christian; He wants me to be a Christian.
I left the subject of Dissociative Identity Disorder to write about hypocrisy. Dissociative Identity Disorder is a mental illness and we know very little about it but we have been introduced from time to time to hypocrisy. Perhaps we have even practiced it. One thing for sure, Jesus used strong words to denounce it, so we should avoid it at all costs.
EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY
Words: Norman J. Clayton
Music: Norman J. Clayton
1938
Only to be what the wants me to be,
Every moment of every day
Yielded completely to jesus alone
Every step of this pilgrim way
just to be clay in the potters hands,
Ready to do what His Word commands,
Only to be what he wants me to be,
Every moment of every day.
Trusting my Savior what ever betide,
Every moment of every day,
Knowing He’s able and ready to guide
Every step in this pilgrim way.
just to be clay in the potters hands,
Ready to do what His Word commands,
Only to be what he wants me to be,
Every moment of every day.
Living for Jesus surrendered and true
Every moment of every day,
Walking with only His pleasure in view,
Every step in pilgrim way.
just to be clay in the potters hands,
Ready to do what His Word commands,
Only to be what he wants me to be,
Every moment of every day.