The danger with these tests is that they may cause you to pigeonhole yourself. While the results may reflect some revealing truths about you, they should not define who you are. Determinatively labeling yourself with a certain personality type could lead to justifying poor behavior/character qualities- whether it be neglecting good aspects of your weaker side, or catering to bad aspects of your stronger side. Rationalizing any sinful behavior as due to "personality type" is simply another avenue of blame-shifting. A personality is just a combination of characteristics and qualities which form an individuals character. In the Bible, Christ is the perfect standard to which all men should be compared. Until we are all like Christ we should be striving to reform our personality. It's true that everyone is unique (and these tests can help in identifying some of your individuality), but shouldn’t all Christians be striving to change their personality until it looks like Christ’s?
Therefore, the Bible presents us with one personality test: Christlikeness. If you’re a believer, it doesn’t matter what your "personality" is, it needs to be adjusted to line up with Christ’s.
If you take a personality test and it comes back and tells you that you are a “lion” this may be helpful for you to know. However, this should not mean that you go on living your life with the label “lion” justifying an insensitive, dominative behavior, while neglecting “lamb-like” qualities. When you cause yourself to believe that the label “lion” defines who you are, you may live your life constrained to that sphere- when in fact the Bible calls you to much more.
Christ couldn’t be described as just one of say 4 types of personalities. He was the best of all 4. Therefore as followers of Christ, striving to grow in Christlikeness, we should not be content until we are the best of all 4.
Christ couldn’t be described as just one of say 4 types of personalities. He was the best of all 4. Therefore as followers of Christ, striving to grow in Christlikeness, we should not be content until we are the best of all 4.
I like this. There is a fine line between sanctifiable weaknesses/strengths and unchangeable personalities!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mann, Im still thinking through this.
ReplyDeleteActions are always changeable. Basically, my definition of a personality is the collection of actions which form an individuals character. The problem with the label of a personality is that certain actions are expected- or not expected. I believe that someone with any given personality could choose to perform any given action- whether comfortable or uncomfortable. In that sense, you can change or reform your personality by doing or not doing what may be natural for you to the extent that your character is affected.