Personality Tests
I'm an ENFJ (some days I'm an INFJ). I'm a Lion/Beaver. I'm a double wing 6. I'm a Blue/Gold. I'm a DC.
I've found, lately, that it's been easier to define myself in those personality test results. If you don't know what all of that means, that's totally fine. (For reference, the personality tests, in order, are Myer's Briggs, Four Animals, Enneagram, Four Colors, and DISC).
Do not get me wrong. I think all of the resources available to us in order to better understand ourselves and those around us are incredible. I use the enneagram almost daily in reference to why I am reacting the way I am and in order to redirect the negative behavior I'm prone to. I love to observe other people and see how I can best serve them and care for them. Knowing their personality type helps in my understanding of how they work. So, I love each of these tests for different reasons. We use the DISC test at work and it is so helpful to know how people are prone to work habits and how they desire to be encouraged. I've used every other personality test in other jobs or even in leadership positions and they each have allowed me to have a clearer view of other people and have given me insight into why people act the way they do.
However, I've found that we seem to be quick to put ourselves in a box, so to speak.
The thing is, while we might have these personality types that we've been defined by, we were each made in the image of God, each with unique gifts and talents; no two exactly alike. We cannot define ourselves by our results and ignore the many gifts, talents, strengths, weaknesses, and more of what God has created in us.
More than that, we cannot look at the sin in our lives and chalk it up to being what we're defined by. For example, I'm an enneagram 6. "The Loyalist", as sixes are nicknamed, are quick to think in worst case scenarios and to be paralyzed by fear. We desire to feel secure and safe and are willing to offer that security up to others by staying loyal to them, even if we really shouldn't be doing so. I found myself, just the other day, mentally thinking through every worst case scenario regarding a situation at work, and ended up retreating into my office rather than ministering to a person in need. Thankfully, I was convicted and got up and had a long conversation with that person. However, my disobedience could have easily been understood as "just being myself", being paralyzed by fear.
Here's the issue with "being ourselves": We. Are. Sinners.
Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't be vulnerable, genuine, or honest. PLEASE do not hear that. Vulnerability, being genuine, and honesty are rare in our world, and it's so refreshing to be around those who walk in who the Lord has made them to be. However, we cannot and should not sit idly by in our sin, allowing it to rule our lives, and mask it by the test result we've received.
I could easily sit in my thinking through of everything that could go wrong and decide to not leave my house ever again. Honestly speaking, there's days that I have to convince myself that those bad things I am confident could happen won't happen. I could convince myself out of every single outing and never interact with another person again, chalking it up to the fact that I'm a six. Every other enneagram type could sit in their weaknesses and look at their test result and believe that their actions or their thoughts are justified because of their number.
Moreover, I've found many people recognizing that they might relate to more than one personality test result. I'm a Lion/Beaver, but I also have a lot of retriever in me, as well as some otter. It's easy for me to hold so tightly to my identity as a leader who is organized and disregard the sides of me that are empathetic and fun loving. But the reality is, we all have many facets of our personality that make up who we are, and forcing ourselves into a box is just not how we were created to be.
That does not mean that these personality tests are awful, heresies, or should be avoided. This means that we need to be careful with how we interact with them. It's healthy to interact with them with the knowledge that we are more than those results. It's healthy to recognize the times that we begin to justify our sinful actions and thoughts with our personality test results. It's healthy to have conversations about personality tests with the intention to better love, serve, and care for those around us. It is not healthy to allow the thoughts of our results overtake our minds and become superior to how God created us to be.
I'm guilty of all of this. You might be too.
Thankfully, there's grace. Grace that covers every sin. Grace that cleanses. Grace that allows us to stand up from our pit of sin and leave it behind to chase after Christ. No matter how we might have allowed this trend to warp our thoughts and our actions, we need to make a change. Let's work toward interacting with these "definitions" of ourselves as just facets of who we are, diving deep into His Word to know who He has made us to be at the very core of who we are, walking in our identity in Him deeper and deeper.
I've found, lately, that it's been easier to define myself in those personality test results. If you don't know what all of that means, that's totally fine. (For reference, the personality tests, in order, are Myer's Briggs, Four Animals, Enneagram, Four Colors, and DISC).
Do not get me wrong. I think all of the resources available to us in order to better understand ourselves and those around us are incredible. I use the enneagram almost daily in reference to why I am reacting the way I am and in order to redirect the negative behavior I'm prone to. I love to observe other people and see how I can best serve them and care for them. Knowing their personality type helps in my understanding of how they work. So, I love each of these tests for different reasons. We use the DISC test at work and it is so helpful to know how people are prone to work habits and how they desire to be encouraged. I've used every other personality test in other jobs or even in leadership positions and they each have allowed me to have a clearer view of other people and have given me insight into why people act the way they do.
However, I've found that we seem to be quick to put ourselves in a box, so to speak.
"I'm a 6, so I'm just going to be thinking in worst case scenarios and there's nothing I can do about it!"
"I'm an otter, so I'll be distracted by having fun all of the time!"
"I'm an orange so I'm sorry, but I can't be orderly."
More than that, we cannot look at the sin in our lives and chalk it up to being what we're defined by. For example, I'm an enneagram 6. "The Loyalist", as sixes are nicknamed, are quick to think in worst case scenarios and to be paralyzed by fear. We desire to feel secure and safe and are willing to offer that security up to others by staying loyal to them, even if we really shouldn't be doing so. I found myself, just the other day, mentally thinking through every worst case scenario regarding a situation at work, and ended up retreating into my office rather than ministering to a person in need. Thankfully, I was convicted and got up and had a long conversation with that person. However, my disobedience could have easily been understood as "just being myself", being paralyzed by fear.
Here's the issue with "being ourselves": We. Are. Sinners.
Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't be vulnerable, genuine, or honest. PLEASE do not hear that. Vulnerability, being genuine, and honesty are rare in our world, and it's so refreshing to be around those who walk in who the Lord has made them to be. However, we cannot and should not sit idly by in our sin, allowing it to rule our lives, and mask it by the test result we've received.
I could easily sit in my thinking through of everything that could go wrong and decide to not leave my house ever again. Honestly speaking, there's days that I have to convince myself that those bad things I am confident could happen won't happen. I could convince myself out of every single outing and never interact with another person again, chalking it up to the fact that I'm a six. Every other enneagram type could sit in their weaknesses and look at their test result and believe that their actions or their thoughts are justified because of their number.
Moreover, I've found many people recognizing that they might relate to more than one personality test result. I'm a Lion/Beaver, but I also have a lot of retriever in me, as well as some otter. It's easy for me to hold so tightly to my identity as a leader who is organized and disregard the sides of me that are empathetic and fun loving. But the reality is, we all have many facets of our personality that make up who we are, and forcing ourselves into a box is just not how we were created to be.
That does not mean that these personality tests are awful, heresies, or should be avoided. This means that we need to be careful with how we interact with them. It's healthy to interact with them with the knowledge that we are more than those results. It's healthy to recognize the times that we begin to justify our sinful actions and thoughts with our personality test results. It's healthy to have conversations about personality tests with the intention to better love, serve, and care for those around us. It is not healthy to allow the thoughts of our results overtake our minds and become superior to how God created us to be.
I'm guilty of all of this. You might be too.
Thankfully, there's grace. Grace that covers every sin. Grace that cleanses. Grace that allows us to stand up from our pit of sin and leave it behind to chase after Christ. No matter how we might have allowed this trend to warp our thoughts and our actions, we need to make a change. Let's work toward interacting with these "definitions" of ourselves as just facets of who we are, diving deep into His Word to know who He has made us to be at the very core of who we are, walking in our identity in Him deeper and deeper.
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