Why I'm Not Always So Fond of "Personality" and "Spiritual Gifting" Tests-they can be misused.

Last night, my wife and I took one of those personality 'tests'. We answered questions and afterwords it gave us twenty-one sheets of paper that told us who were and what our tendencies, strengths and weaknesses were. There are a bunch of these kinds of tests out there; some are good and some are no so good. This one is supposedly one of the more accurate ones. Granite, it did a pretty decent job of telling me my tendencies, likes, dislikes, etc. I already knew this, my wife already knew this, but it was neat to see it on paper and say, "Yea. You are a domineering and 'take-charge' kind of person." 

To a degree, these kinds of tests are helpful, especially when you're working with other people who have personalities different from yours; but, after looking it over, discussing it with Cindy and thinking about things like grace, the Holy Spirit, Scripture, sanctification--all things that are part of the Christian life, I said, "You see, that's why I don't really like these things."

I'm not too fond of them because they fail to do several things:

1) They fail to leave room for the fact that the Holy Spirit sanctifies individuals through the power of the Word and Gospel centered fellowship. So, while the personality test(s) show that you're domineering, and independent,  it doesn't express the areas of that part of your personality that need to be redeemed. Take Peter for example--he was domineering and was always the first one to speak up, sometimes to his own embarrassment and shame (Mark 26:33; Luke 22:54-62; Matt 16:21-23). More times than not, it was Peter's pride and self-confidence that caused him to say things like, "I will never betray you. . ." He had qualities that needed to be redeemed, and they were, by the grace of God. Self-confidence, pride, a domineering personality are things that the personality test I took would've glorified, not condemned.

2) They can lend to an attitude of affirmation for personality traits that are actually sinful and should be challenged and redeemed. For example, let's say, that in my boldness and fervor, I say something that's true but is void of grace, sensitivity for others (which I'm guilty of) or I tend to take charge of a situation or group and don't want any help (which I'm also guilty of). That's wrong, that's bad; but if I use my personality test and say, "Oh, well I'm a "High 'D', so that's why I did that," then I've pushed away from the fact that what I did was actually mean and needs to be confronted. Someone will come along and say, "Ya' know, that's just the way that Ant is, that's his personality." I'm a sinner (saved by grace), that's who I am, but if I'm identified as "High D" then I can justify some of my "High D" tendencies and continue in them, all the while forgetting the fact that I'm a sinner, with a sinful heart, not a "High D".

Concerning "Spiritual Gift tests"

These tests are some of the stupidest things I've ever seen. There's a bunch of them, and the worst part is that many churches use them to determine, for their parishioners, what "ministry" they should be participating in. "I want to serve," someone says.

"Where do you want to serve," asked a leader in the church.

"I feel a passion in me for teaching the Word of God. I'm not sure where that fits in or how I'd be able to do it but that's I have a passion for," says the Believer.

"Well what'd your Spiritual Gifts test say?"

"I'm not sure if--"

"Did you take the Spiritual Gifts test?"

"I did, but I really don't--"

"I'm sure that whatever it produced is pretty accurate, why don't you work towards that?"

That's a fictitious example, and maybe it's even a little extreme but hopefully the idea is clear--there is no Holy Spirit in a Spiritual gifts test. Shouldn't the Holy Spirit, and God's Word along with affirmation from our local church family determine our Spiritual gifting and place in ministry, instead of a personality that's called a Spiritual gifts test. I completely disagree with Spiritual Gifting tests. If they were called personality tests (which is what they are), that'd be fine.

Not rejecting but hesitantly endorsing personality tests.

ant

Busy, Busy, Busy

In the midst of my "busyness" today, I read a very convicting blog post by C.J. Mahaney  on that very topic. I probably should have been doing what I'd set out to do, but ironically, I really needed to read what I came across. Lately, I've been having that "bogged down" feeling; too much to do, too little time, blah blah blah. This kind of feeling usually leaves me discouraged and feeling--you guessed it! Unproductive. 

As I've wrestled with these things over the past week or so I've thought, "Okay. If I'm feeling this way (weighed down, crummy) there has to be a sin issue somewhere in here. Where is it? Where is it? What is it? In the midst of all this, Ps 127:2 kept coming to mind and I wasn't sure why. I kept praying, "God please help me, help me get all of this "stuff" done." After reading C.J. Mahaney's post I realized I should've been repententing then supplicating then thanking God for His forgiveness and provision found in the Gospel. 

I went home and shared what I'd read with my wife, repented to her for letting my "busyness" get in the way of my priority to her as a husband and friend, and then I asked her to pray for me, keep me accountable and let me know when my "busyness" put her in "second place". 

If you feel like this is a topic that hits home I recommend reading Mahaney's post(s). The link to them is above.

Praise God for His forgiveness, His peace and His wisdom in revealing things to us in due season.

From Him, through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be glory, forever and ever.

The "P" Word, that clings so closely

Finally, be stron in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over the present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (Eph 6:10-13)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12:1-2)

I can feel it again. It seems to creep up the back of my neck and claw its way through my ear and into my brain. If my mind is empty, it finds a place to lounge without any real struggle. Given enough time, it will dangle little nuggets in front of my "eyes"--they're lies. I'm all too familiar with this nagging parasite--I hate it. I want to spit at it and scream at it and tear it to pieces-- it is  a nuisance! Everywhere I go, it finds a way to attach itself to everything I endeavor to do. All the things I want to do, I cannot do (at least not the way I'd like to do them) and everything I don't want to do or be like, I do and am like. It is always with me, it's louder on somedays than others. Nonetheless, it's always there. 

However, when I fix my eyes on the One who outshines the offerings of my nasty little leech, it's pangs lose their grip. When I take my eyes of Him, it breathes hot air into my motivations, intentions, thoughts, actions; interfering with relationships, fellowship, ministry, goals and good intentions. Who will deliver me? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ! He will! 

                                                                                                                                  

I Can Recount. . .

I should be sleeping. But, I'm up, trying to type out an assignment for the first course of my Master's degree. I'm also listening to a song called Radiant by E-Pop (I have it on repeat). 

My assignment is to write a two to three page paper on God's call on my life. I have to think back, which is something I've been doing a lot lately. This is refreshing, and as I'm writing this a Psalm comes to mind:

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;

I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

I will be glad and exult in you;

I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. (Psalm 9:1-2)

And then a verse from Isaiah:

I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD,

the praises of the LORD,

according to all that the LORD has granted us,

and the great goodness to the house of Israel

that he has granted us them according to his compassion,

according to the abundance of his steadfast love. (Is 63:7)

God's grace has been sown in exceeding abundance towards me! For those of you reading this, let me make something vividly clear: I am a great sinner! I can recount the days when I wanted nothing to do with His Cross, His Word or His Church. I can recount the hardness of my heart and that it's only goal was to glorify it's own desires, namely, me. I was pitiful.

But God, being rich in mercy, looked on me with pity and redeemed me. By His grace, I looked to Him and He heard me. I can recount the night I saw my wickedness while driving down 11th street and back to my dormitory. I can recount the day that the light of the Gospel was shed abroad in my heart and I-COULD-SEE!!!! I can recount His steadfast love towards me, an undeserving sinner who had been running from Christ. He brought me in, into His flock! I can see, I can see, I can see! 

It is confounding (Ezekiel 16:62-63) to recount the steadfast love of the LORD.

The Bible and the Brethren

Recently, a group of brothers and I have committed to memorizing Scripture together. This is exciting for me, here are some reasons why:

1. It prompts the fulfillments God's commandment (through the Apostle  Paul) to collectively think about "good" things (Phil 4:8-9)

2. It will help us, collectively fight the good fight of faith (1 Tim 6:12; 2 Tim 4:7)

3. It will help us to see, together, the weighty reality and truth of God's Word being the most precious thing we could fill our minds with (Ps 19:7-11)

4. The Word enables us to kill sin (Rom 8:13)

5. By memorizing Scripture we can meditate on God's Word even when it's not in front of us (Ps 1:2)

Gladly Discontented

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, para. 2, p.45)

 This is a quote that shot me directly in the heart and brain, in the latter parts of my freshman year in college. Lewis' quote literally came to life when the once palatable tastes of angry conscious hip-hop, the therapeutic company of friends, lust, disconcerting and ambiguous poetry and my veneer of Christianity had lost their tang. 

I can remember it like it was yesterday: I was walking across the street from my dormitory to a 10:00 am class listening to Mos def's "Black on Both Sides"; hat on, hoodie up, head phones in the proper position. I don't remember what song I was listening to but I do remember my reaction as crossed the middle of Bern Street: "This isn't working anymore. . .as matter of fact. . .there's nothing here. He's saying absolutely nothing at all. Nothing that moves me, nothing that makes me say 'hmmm...', nothing that excites me or amazes me. It's doing nothing for me. I am disenchanted." 

It was depressing actually. Something I had put so much stock into for happiness and "purpose" in life had instantaneously become boring and monotonous, right there in the middle of Bern St. (Reading, PA). I found in myself a desire that could no longer be satisfied by (you decide). 

This sent my on a downward spiral of depression, melancholy and bitterness. By grace (and without my permission) the spiral hit a board, called the Cross of Christ and the Sovereign Grace of God, and I bounced upward toward that which can truly satisfy. 

To quote a brother, "ahhhhhhhhhhh! What a relief it is to be in Jesus!

The LORD sets the prisoners free;

the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.

The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;

the LORD loves the righteous. (Ps 146:8)

A Manifold Plethora of Glory

This evening, we led off our class with Ephesians 2:11-22. In it, the Apostle Paul (a Jew) talks to the Gentiles about once being "uncircumcised" in the flesh and alienated from the people of Israel. He says that they were, "strangers to the covenant of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." He then goes on to say that Christ, by His blood, has brought them near (to God) and that by His flesh He has broken down a dividing wall of hostility. This could be speaking of the actual wall that stood in the outer courtyard of the temple, warning Gentiles that they would only have themselves to blame if they chose to venture beyond it and into the inner court, or Paul may just be giving an illustration for the intense hostility that existed between Jews and Gentiles during the day. Nonetheless, Paul makes it clear that the Cross obliterates the wavy, opaque and sinful dividing walls of race, culture, ethnicity; these walls are constructed by our flesh and His flesh is what caused them to come crumbling down. Any beef that existed between Paul (a Jew) and his Gentile readers is no more because of what their Savior has accomplished for them.

As I listened to the passage being read I thought to myself, "Wow. There is a man across from me who I've never met, he's from Indonesia. . .and we are one in Christ! We've been reconciled, made part of one body and any possible qualm or cause for division that may have existed between has been destroyed. . .all by one event. The Cross! And not only that, but we have all things in common, we're both washed in the blood of the Lamb and one day, by God's sovereign grace, we'll worship the King in Glory together!"

God is so glorified in that, is He not? How can it be that one solitary event in history could kill and destroy something that evil spent thousands of years building (speaking of prejudice, racism, cultural bias, etc.) Only the cross of Christ could do a thing like that. Isn't it amazing--not only did Christ, in His death (shedding of His blood), secure our way to God the Father but in doing so broke down "walls of flesh" that would hinder fellowship, with the breaking of His own body?! Are you not amazed at that? I was amazed at that tonight.

However. That's not what gripped my heart the most. What wrenched me was what I saw shining off of Ephesians 2:11-22 and towards eternity. That is that one day, in heaven, Christ's church will be there. Jew, Gentile, Indonesian, Italian, African, Irish, Indian, Cambodian, Chinese, Norwegian, Germans, French, Spanish, Latin American, etc. . . People from every tribe and every tongue, nation, culture, sub-culture, province, country, state, continent. . .all of His Bride will be there and we-will-be-worshipping Him! Basking in His glory and chasing after the riches of His grace only to get there and realize that we haven't even scratched the surface. . .and we never will. That's what gripped me when we read the second chapter of Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus. God is glorified in drawing all kinds of people to Himself and heaven will be the culmination and it will last forever. Exciting.

Work it out!

"Those who neglect mortification (of sin) allow the inner man to perish. Grace in the heart must have exercise. If it is allowed to lie still, it withers and decays (Rev. 3:2), and sin seeks to harden our hearts (Heb. 3:13)."

John Owen, The Mortification of Sin, p.9