Daily Devotional

I enjoy taking personality tests. Not the BuzzFeed “what type of cupcake would you be?” articles, but the ones that deepen my understanding of myself and those around me, like the Myers-Briggs “16 Personalities” test. (If you’re curious, I’m an INTJ-A.) These tests sort of run in my family; when I was a preteen, my grandfather ran me through a series of “inventories” addressing everything from conflict resolution to style of influence to cross-cultural ministry readiness(!).

I’ve often pondered how the Christian should approach personality tests–and the concept of personality in general. On the one hand, personality tests can help me identify my strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, and temptations, making them a helpful tool in the life-long process of sanctification. Understanding mine and others’ style of influence, method of conflict resolution, etc. also helps me to better “love my neighbor as myself” (Matthew 22:39). On the other hand, we can pretty safely assume God isn’t sitting up in heaven creating people with a Myers-Briggs personality template in hand. There are 8 billion people on this planet, each “fearfully and wonderfully made” by their Creator. Reducing people to a set of personality-test-inspired stereotypes can cause us to miss this truth.

But for the sake of argument, why doesn’t God only make 16 (or 9, or 32, or any number really) types of people? Why do personality differences exist at all? As C.S. Lewis writes in The Problem of Pain, chapter 10, “If He had no use for all these differences, I do not see why He should have created more souls than one.”

I think one reason why God makes everyone different is service. You’re probably familiar with the concept of “spiritual gifts,” how the indwelling Holy Spirit empowers every Christian for a specific role (or roles) in God’s kingdom. (The New Testament has examples in Romans 12:6–8 and 1 Corinthians 12:8–10; there is also an excellent spiritual giftings test in Pastor Jim’s Men in Action handbook.) But I think that not just your spiritual gift, but your other talents, your personality, everything that makes you unique, is given you by God “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). My grandparents explain this using the analogy of a suitcase. Imagine everything that makes you “you”–your family background, education, talents, passions, hardships, failings, and even personality–in an invisible suitcase that you carry with you. As you go through life, God will present you with opportunities to use what He’s put in your suitcase for His glory. In essence, personality differences exist to maximize the ministry of the Body of Christ. Understanding our personality makes us better ambassadors of the Kingdom.

But I think personality differences are ultimately about worship. I often wonder: if Jesus took the Myers-Briggs test, what would his results be? I guess (and I admit, this is speculative) that He is, in some sense, every personality rolled into one. Each personality, when glorified and free from sin, dimly reflects some part of the Divine Personality. In other words, my personality influences the way in which I praise my Creator. The “God-shaped hole” in my heart is filled by God in a way slightly different than anyone else’s God-shaped hole. I’ll quote Lewis and The Problem of Pain again: “Each of the redeemed shall forever know and praise some one aspect of the divine beauty better than any other creature can. … For doubtless the continually successful, yet never completed, attempt by each soul to communicate its unique vision to others…is also among the ends for which the individual was created.” In eternity, the philosopher may praise God for his perfection, the physicist for His power, the farmer for His faithfulness, the teacher for His truth, the judge for His justice, the jester for His joy, the parent for His patience, the felon for His forgiveness, and the little child for His love. Like a wave of light in a prism, splitting into its many colors, refracting, reflecting from surface to surface, the many personalities that make up the Body of Christ collectively illuminate the personality and character of God.

Should the Christian be cautious of putting too much weight in personality tests? Absolutely. Many promise a path to self-discovery, to enlightenment, which is only found in Jesus. Psychoanalysis is no substitute for sanctification. But knowing who I am, who God has made me to be, can help me not just serve God better, but worship Him better. Today, take some time to consider these questions:
What has God put in my suitcase? How has He equipped me to serve Him?
Why is God worthy of my praise today? How has He equipped me to worship Him?

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.