Dual Identity

My Own Worst Enemy is one of TV’s newest action thrillers. On its website, NBC explains that the show “explores the duality of a man who is literally pitted against himself” and asks the question, “Who can you trust when you can’t trust yourself?” In the show, Christian Slater plays a man with dual identities, Henry and Edward. “Henry is a middle-class efficiency expert living a humdrum life in the suburbs with his wife, their two kids, a dog, and a minivan. Edward is an operative who speaks 13 languages, runs a four-minute mile, and is trained to kill… Henry and Edward are polar opposites who share only one thing in common - the same body.”
While I have never actually seen the show, I have to admit that I can identify with the character because I too have a dual identity (No, I am not a secret agent on my days off…or at least that is what I want you to think). Then again, I am not the only one that has a dual identity; you do too, as well as everyone in your family, at your office and on your street. All people have the identity of being an image bearer of God, but all people also have the identity of being fallen, it is a dual identity which shares only one thing in common – the same body. Francis Schaffer described your dual identity as a glorious ruin.
First, you are glorious, because “God created man in His own image.” (Gen 1:27) Unlike the animals you have a unique spiritual component that is woven into the very fabric of your soul. This component allows you, and all men, to contemplate God, to make moral decisions, to exercise dominion over the earth and, most importantly, to have a relationship with Christ if you trust in Him.
Secondly, you are ruins, because your sin has corrupted every aspect of your life. It has corrupted your righteousness, your mind, your motives, your will, your tongue, your relationships with others and your relationship to God (Rom3:10-18). To put it simply, the affects of sin in your life are pervasive and they ruin your perfect glory as an image bearer of God.
Like Henry, as a person with dual identities, you are literally pitted against yourself. There is a war waging inside of you, a battle between the two identities for your thoughts, your actions and your heart. Such inner turmoil leaves us with this question, “Who can you trust when you can’t trust yourself?” The answer is simple, trust in Jesus, who is the perfect image of the invisible God and who wants to re-create you into His perfect image for all eternity.