In Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein, an abomination is brought to life. A being is pieced together out of lifeless and rotting body parts by a reckless and prideful doctor. From the heart of a self-seeking and godless man comes a reviled creature, Frankenstein’s monster. This fiction is not far from the Scriptural description of a sinner.
Proverbs 6:16-19 gives us the description of the hated monster man cobbles together. Prideful eyes are placed in its sockets that allow the creature to see itself exalted high. It has lips sewn on that are dripping with deceit. Hurtful hands are fastened which pummel others down unjustly. Within the body a heart designed only for devising evil is fixed which supplies the rest of the body with constant destructive purpose. Its feet are specially crafted so that they never tire of the pursuit of evil desires. The stench of its breath exposes more decay within. Its form is animated by and persists on lies, false accusations, and gossip. Perhaps worst of all, it reproduces itself in others by instigating strife and enmity. God hates this monster we create and so should we. But in Mark 7:21- 22 and James 1:14-15 we learn each of us cobble this gruesome creature together within our hearts as we selflessly pursue our own fleshly desires.
How do we keep the monster at bay? In Shelley’s story the doctor dies never having seen the end of his abomination, but that does not have to be our fate. Since the hated monster is created in the heart, we overcome by a change of heart. We must love God with all our heart, place our treasure in Heaven, walk by the Spirit, and come to know our creator thereby allowing Him to transform us from the inside out and bring us to life.