A young man from a wealthy family is shocked to learn what really happened to his father. He gives into his passions and seeks revenge. What happens next is a tragedy.
His father dies unexpectedly. After an uncomfortably short interval, his mother marries his father’s brother, who assumes control of the estate. The young man becomes enraged, especially after he discovers information suggesting his uncle had poisoned his father to death. He hatches a plot to uncover the truth once and for all.
While plotting the reveal and his revenge, he brings a friend, Horatio, into his confidence. He needs help from someone who is supportive but not blinded by emotion. He tells Horatio, “Give me that man that is not passion’s slave, and I will wear him in my heart’s core…as I do thee.” These are the words Shakespeare put in the mouth of young Hamlet.
Self-management, also called temperance, is universally accepted as a human virtue. That does not suggest you can or should prohibit emotions (passions). The human brain is hardwired to react with emotions, however unwanted or unexpected. Self-management means using your mind to overrule your brain when it becomes hijacked by anger, fear, or anxiety. We call people who do that “level-headed,” “resilient,” or “mature.” Others “fly off the handle,” “get carried away,” or “are hot-headed.”
The Bible tells a story (probably not meant to be humorous, but it is, maybe a little!) about Jesus’s disciples. They had witnessed powerful signs and wonders by Jesus, yet the people of a certain village rejected Him (Luke 9:51ff). With surprising swagger, the disciples asked Jesus, “Do you want us to command fire to consume them?” Sometimes you would like to do that too, right?
But Jesus thought differently. “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). He wants His followers to think about people the way He does – valued and in need of redemption – even when they act badly. After all, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). That includes you and me.
Jesus invented cognitive reframing and emotional intelligence long before psychologists came along. To abide in Christ is to bear the fruit of the Spirit, which includes self-control. One of the marks of a follower of Christ is a refusal to be enslaved by human passions. When you identify with Christ, you learn to “walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6).
Shakespeare portrayed people acting badly. Hamlet reenacts the murder, exposing his uncle’s guilt. In the ensuing chaos, his mother, his uncle, and Hamlet himself all die, victims of passion. But Horatio lives to tell the story as the man who was not passion’s slave.