What Personality Type Are You?
If you have ever wanted to learn more about yourself, there is a personality test for that. Some of the more popular ones are the Enneagram, the Chinese Medicine Personality Types, the Predictive Index, the Meyers Briggs, and the DISC.
Longing to better understand myself, I have taken most of these personality tests at some point in my life. I’ve learned I have quite a bit of 2 in me, a lot of water in my personality, and I tend to be an extrovert.
I’m grateful for the insights I’ve learned from these tests, but if you are like me, you don’t fit perfectly into any one personality type. I’ve never actually met anyone who perfectly fits into one personality type. Have you ever thought about why that is?
I always think to myself, the God I know is far too creative to cram us all into 4 personalities or 7 personality types. He intentionally sprinkles a little uniqueness on each of us rendering these personality tests generally useless. I envision God chuckling at us and our made-up personality profiles. I imagine him saying nice try, but you can not put my work into such a tiny box.
In Philippians 1:27 Paul writes,
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Whatever happens. In all circumstances. Always. No matter what. These are all ways of saying, consistently and predictably conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel. Paul is writing this to the people of Philippi and he is giving them guidelines on how to act in his absence. He goes on to write in my presence or my absence I want to hear that you stand firm in the one Spirit.
Paul isn’t talking about being rigid and inflexible, like the description of having wood in your personality. He is saying no matter what, even if I’m there or not, always conduct yourself in a way that is worthy of the gospel of Christ.
In order to conduct ourselves in a way worthy of the gospel, we first need to understand the gospel and then we need to understand who Jesus is.
The gospel tells us that Jesus died for us so that we may have the gift of eternal life. Jesus cares so much about us that he laid down his life for you and me. I have people who love me a lot, but I’m not certain they would actually end their life here on earth for me. I have people I love a lot, but in all honesty, there is probably just a small handful of them who I would die for. Jesus did that, though. He laid down his life for you and me so that we could have access to the greatest gift of all, eternal life.
As my son is looking at a career in the military, I once again have been given the opportunity to better understand the gospel. The young men and women in the military are willing to lay down their lives for every American. They are willing to lay down their lives for the Americans who aren’t proud to be Americans, the Americans who don’t respect our country, and for the Americans who are committing crimes against our country. The young men in the military are willing to lay down their lives to protect EVERY American so that we may maintain our freedom. Sound familiar? Jesus did the same thing. He willingly laid down his life so that each one of us sin-ridden humans could have eternal life. So that our lives would be better.
Understanding the gospel is one part of knowing how we should conduct ourselves. Understanding Jesus is the second.
Throughout the new testament, we learn about Jesus’s personality. He was human. He was passionate. He took time to himself. He stood up for others. He had a servant’s heart. He stood firm in his beliefs. He let other people make their own decisions. He guided people by telling parables and stories. He didn’t always provide direct answers. He was supportive. He was kind. He was thoughtful. He was gentle. He was funny. He was love.
Like the personality tests, one of the biggest mistakes we make in trying to understand Jesus is we try to put him in a box of our own understanding. A box simply labeled: good. By doing this, when trying to model his life, we only have the option of being good or bad. We believe there are only two choices - the right one or the wrong one. This gets us in trouble because when given only two choices, we often don’t like either choice and for us flawed humans, that often triggers shutdown or rebellion. The new testament shows us Jesus was much more complex than right or wrong and good or bad. He looked at every situation indepthly, consulted God, and then made a decision that would help move his calling forward.
Just like God didn’t create us using a limited selection of 4 personality types, he also didn’t give us a small limited box of right/wrong, good/bad options to choose from. God gave us an expansive arena of gospel-glorifying opportunities to choose from when faced with every decision.
So, let’s not oversimplify Jesus into an idea of good or bad/right or wrong. Instead, let’s assess our situation, take it to God and discuss it, and then move forward with the choice that best fulfills our God-given calling here on earth. Like Christ, it might be with a story, it might be with silence, it might be with our presence, it might be with humor, or it might be through our absence.
I don’t want to simply be predictably Heidi, or a 2, or an extrovert. I want to be predictably a Christ-follower. I want my personality type to be described as predictably living life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
God, thank you. Thank you for being bigger than any label we give ourselves or each other. Thank you for being more complex than a simple right or wrong. Thank you for giving us options in how we serve you, fulfill our calling, and represent the gospel. We ask that you help us not be limited by labels, titles, or expectations. Rather, allow us to see you as the unlimited, unrestrained, unchanged, complex God you are. We ask that you continue to refine us into the gospel representatives you created us to be, and help us conduct ourselves as people who Jesus died for.