Multiple Personalities, the Holy Spirit, & Bad Grammar
“Living Lies” by We As Human
I wear the face of an only son
But inside I’m coming undone
Beneath the skin I’m not what you see
There’s someone else living in me
And I know
That one day I’ll be exposed
The secrets hidden in my soul
Buried alive
Beneath these lies
Of who I am
I’m a broken man
And I cant break free its killing me
All these lies I can’t erase
Take this pain apart of me
I despise living lies
Living lies
I feel the weight of mistakes I’ve made
I built a world without any grace
I’m like a ship that’s tossed in the sea
Drifting, drowning, waiting to sink
And I know
That one day I’ll be exposed
The secrets hidden in my soul
Buried alive
Beneath these lies
Of who I am
I’m a broken man
And I can’t break free its killing me
All these lies I can’t erase
Take this pain apart of me
I despise living lies
Living lies
Don’t wanna live like this
I don’t wanna die like this
I shed my innocence
I shed my innocence!
lies
Of who I am
I’m a broken man
And I can’t break free it’s killing me
All these lies I can’t erase
Take this pain apart of me
I despise living lies
Living lies
Of who I am
I’m a broken man
And I can’t break free it’s killing me
All these lies I can’t erase
Take this pain apart of me
I despise living lies
Living lies
Don’t wanna live like this
I don’t wanna die like this
I shed my innocence
I shed my innocence!
There’s someone else living in me.
Quoting the Bible and widely accepted doctrine, it is often said that after accepting Christ the old person dies and a new person is reborn in the image of God. That sounds nice. It also sounds too easy. It does not sound at all like my experience. The real me, the one who wants to sleep until noon, doesn’t want to have a day job, and is a master at procrastination, this is the person who was supposed to be put to death and made new? The problem is, she is still very good at guilt-trips, running herself down, and writing off gifts and talents as happy, one-time accidents. Sitting just to right of Me is the person of the Holy Spirit, the manifestation of the full power of the God of our entire universe. Yeah, He lives in me too. They don’t get along too well. To be honest, most of the time they are pretty much at war. Well, it’s more like a teen with any authority figure. You see, Me is usually on the Throne playing queen with a fuzzy plastic tiara and toy wand. She’s very spoiled, thus rather bossy and extremely selfish. All the while HS waits patiently for Me to relinquish the Throne. In Me’s better moments, the two work together, like when she’s taking a nap! HS wants nothing more than to clean up the place and guide the kingdom in the direction in which it has the potential to succeed. However, success may be defined quite differently by the two personalities. Thus the struggle continues. Sadly the struggle lies entirely with Me. When she asks HS to vacate the Throne, he does so without a fight, though not willingly. It’s always Me’s choice.
My prayer is the times Me surrenders the Throne to HS become more frequent.
I don’t want to get into a theological debate about WHEN the Holy Spirit moves in. I know He does. It’s just that it’s often presented as such an easy process. I guess I don’t entirely agree that the old person is dead. The end. You’re a new person now. Congratulations, you’re just like Jesus. Live long and prosper. Giving this impression can be the source of frustration for people with new faith. No, the old person is continually put to death. The Christ follower is being made new. Perhaps this is also why so many Christians seem to have multiple personalities. They really are trying but the discrepancy between Me and HS is so great. We have this one hope. It’s a process that will be complete when we are freed from these broken bodies. Then we will look on the face of our Creator, the One who is continually recreating we who are doing our best to be like Him. Amen.
