Why You Matterናሙና

We live in a time when putting so much effort into finding out who they are that personality tests are ever-present. You only need to answer some set of questions about yourself, and it will reveal who you really are! Supplement that test with a playlist of TED talks to really unlock the keys and the mysteries to all of our greatest strengths. We want more information about ourselves, all the time. Tell me how to help myself recharge. Tell me how to reach my fullest potential. Tell me how much more intelligent I am than the other personality types. Tell me my strengths, teach me my magic. And of course, the ghost of Sartre is ever-present as well: Many tests tell us our failings in order to propose a new way to “self-realize” or a way to make ourselves into what we want to be, a Christ-less alternative to sanctification.

Let’s draw out one specific aspect of personality tests. If you have ever taken one, you know the kinds of questions they ask. Do you like to be the center of attention in a party? Are you often late? Do you want everyone to know who you are? Do you feel most energized when you are left to yourself to think? Do you prefer variety or routine?

Imagine personality test questions with more context provided. Imagine the whole situation was spelled out in detail, and it went something like this.

“You go to a party at a friend’s house, and the room is full of very interesting and sparkling people. Do you make your way toward them and join in the most lively conversation, or do you talk to the girl who came up beside you and is being strangely needy while wanting to talk with you about something that does not interest you at all?”

I assume that many of you are like me—the answers to this question would vary quite widely based on how much you were behaving according to the flesh and how much according to the Spirit. In the flesh, I would want to get in on the most interesting conversation. In the Spirit, I would want to reach out to the lonely. Which is my true personality?

James writes what he wants for us: If you hear the word of God and do not do it, you are like someone who cannot remember what he looks like—even after looking in the mirror. But if you look into the word and obey it—you will know who you are. You don’t forget. In this way, we see that obedience is the path to clear and true self-knowledge.

Something that is fascinating about this is that the knowledge of who you are is connected not to revelation of that fact at some point (like the results of a personality test), but rather to obedience. Going forward and acting on what you have learned. Acting on what you have seen in the Word of God. In other words, we are not fixed. Obedience changes us, and it changes us so thoroughly that it changes our own knowledge of self. How could any personality test compete with that?

Think of some personality trait of yours that you consider a fact of life. Maybe you are short-tempered. Or perhaps you are overly emotive. Maybe you are always discouraged, or prone to being critical. Do you tend to stress out and get worried easily? Well, what are these traits like when they are in the Spirit? When you look into the word of God (as it addresses this personality trait of yours)—what do you learn? Next, what happens when you obey what you find there? That trait is transformed. You are transformed. Your personality is transformed.

A short temper, when it is controlled in an act of obedience, is what? Long-suffering. An unsteady spirit, being obedient, is what? Steadfast.

A discouraged person, in Christ and obedient, is what? A faithful person. A critical spirit, curbed by obedience, is what? A kind spirit. Far from our personalities being like eye color (something you are born with and can’t do anything about)—our personalities seem to be something that God gave us so that we would have something to put on the altar and offer to Him. So you love quiet and time to journal?

There is something in your hands that you can give up. So you love being at the heart of the social scene around you? There is something tangible God has given you to lay down. Do you see how this works? We are naturally full of instincts and desires that are contrary to what God wants us doing. That means that those things are something to obey with, not something to obey around.

Let’s say that you are naturally disposed to worry, and, right in the middle of an anxiety fest, you open your Bible to see this: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6–7).

Now let’s imagine that you apply the admonition from James and immediately obey. You pray and ask God to take your worry. You lift up your concerns with thanksgiving. What does this passage tell you will happen? The peace that passes understanding will set about you like a guard dog. You will be protected from yourself! 

We can let the strangest assumptions sneak in. We think that God created us in a sort of burst of creativity and after that it is all on us. But when we think that way we are forgetting that every single breath, heartbeat, and thought, every act of cellular replication from each of the trillions of cells in your body, is a continued act of God upholding His creations. We are sustained in Him. God does not make us once and then let us go until the batteries run out. 

The great temptation is to start categorizing yourself outside of Him. What if I tried this with those categories going? “I am of the ENTJ branch of Him; I am energized by connections with other people, and my strengths are—efficiency and energetic leadership, I am strong willed and think strategically—and through those things I try to honor God when I get the chance, as I can, as my situation allows me to thrive, to Whom be glory forever, amen.”

Something got a little off here, didn’t it? We are trying to define ourselves by categories that get between us and Christ. The reality is that we are being continually shaped and growing and changing and used as we abide in Him. Of Him, through Him, to Him. That’s what we are, and that is more than enough.

When we get distracted by looking at ourselves, we can start seeing things that are simple acts of obedience as tremendous sacrifices. Because I am an introvert, this call to hospitality means that I am basically having to be superhuman. Because I love silence, receiving the gift of children was a tremendous spiritual sacrifice—one that I have will suffer through (with a lot of complaining).

Because I am such a dynamic leader (and my husband is not), it is really hard for me to not be in charge of everything, as I am naturally better at it. These sorts of things are not a truly superb sacrifice of an introvert or extrovert or a leader, or whatever number or letter combination you have found yourself to be. It is the normal obedience of a normal Christian. God leaves none of His children empty handed. We all have something to give Him. Lay it down, and learn who you really are. Forget the numbers, learn what you need to know as you obey the Word.

If we are of Him and through Him and to Him—well, then we are being changed in obedience. Forget yourself. What is He like? He loves children. He wants us to be hospitable. If we are abiding in Him, it is not our preferences, but His preferences that define us. We are not the same people we were before obedience, and we shouldn’t want to be.

What is even more important is that the same One who made us is the One who tells us how to obey. He knows what He is asking, and He knows what effect it will have on our lives, and He knows how it will feel to us. He knows we will have to lay down all our petty instincts and natural inclinations to live a spiritual life.

He knows! And He tells us to do it because He loves us. Obedience is not wasted on Him or lost on Him. We can have complete confidence that if we live a life given to Him in this way—in a million small sacrifices of obedience—we are safe.