Day 363 - Personality Testing

Click here to link directly to the audio file.

**********

Not too long ago a friend of mine turned me onto the Enneagram (spelled ennagram) personality testing program. You can check it out for yourself by going to The Enneagram Institute online. Link to their website by going to the text of this podcast.

https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/

I have taken personality tests many times in my life. All of them have done a very average job at identifying a personality type that made any sense to me at all. This one nailed me in ways I find a bit unnerving. There are a lot of people who put way too much stock in these kinds of tests when it comes to who we are. I'm not one of those folks. With that said, this personality test really opened my eyes to some things I'd like to discuss as it relates to victor living. 

The Ennagram test helps you determine your personality type as it relates to the nine different personalities they consider. I'm a 6. This personality type is called the "Loyalist." Here's a description of the Loyalist as quoted from The Ennagram Institute web site mentioned earlier. 

"The committed, security-oriented type. Sixes are reliable, hard-working, responsible, and trustworthy. Excellent "troubleshooters," they foresee problems and foster cooperation, but can also become defensive, evasive, and anxious—running on stress while complaining about it. They can be cautious and indecisive, but also reactive, defiant and rebellious. They typically have problems with self-doubt and suspicion. At their Best: internally stable and self-reliant, courageously championing themselves and others."

When I read this description of my personality type for the first time I was shocked. Those who know me know each and every descriptive term fits to a tee. Those that really know me now have an appreciation as to why I have exhibited the quirks in my life that don't seem to make sense at times. Like most personality traits, there is always a tension between opposing forces that can create behavior that is less than advantageous to living like the victor God calls us to be. 

What I find truly amazing about the Ennagram testing is that they are champions of being the best personality type you test out to be. They know that when we try to be something other than what our wiring dictates that short circuits happen in ways that cause damage to us and to those around us. It is when we know who we are that what we do takes on a meaning like never before. 

If I let the results of this testing be the end all/be all of who I am, I'm going to be just as victim thought driven as if I had never taken the Ennagram test. I'm not a Loyalist that is working to serve this God of mine. I'm a Child of the King's that happens to be wired to react to this world the way a Loyalist does. What God wants for me is to be the best Loyalist I possibly can be. I do that as I understand who God says I am and let my personality come into alignment with His definition of identity.

One of the most amazing parts about the Ennagram testing information is their levels of development discussion. Not only are there nine personality types, there are also nine levels of development each type might find themselves in at any given moment. When we are performing at a level 1 we are living as fully as we can in the power of what I call victor living. When we are at level 9 we are being controlled by victim thinking in self damaging and victim causing ways. 

For my fellow Loyalists, here's a brief description of optimal performance and performance that causes damage to occur. Again, this was taken from The Ennagram Institute website. 

Level 1 (The Loyalist At Their Best): Become self-affirming, trusting of self and others, independent yet symbiotically interdependent and cooperative as an equal. Belief in self leads to true courage, positive thinking, leadership, and rich self-expression.

Level 9: (The Loyalist At Their Worst) Hysterical, and seeking to escape punishment, they become self-destructive and suicidal. Alcoholism, drug overdoses, "skid row," self-abasing behavior. Generally corresponds to the Passive-Aggressive and Paranoid personality disorders.

I can't tell you how many times I have found myself at level 9. That word hysterical is so real to me. So are so much of the other really harsh, scary and, frankly embarrassing descriptors. What I want to share with you today is that even when I'm performing at my worst, this isn't who God made me to be. This is what happens with we let the world dictate who we are for too long. Even when I'm stuck at this level of victim thinking, God still sees me as the best because of what Jesus did for me on the cross. It is when we come to that place of surrender to the amazing love God has for us that we are in a position where we can move up the scale when it comes to how our behavior reflects the kind of personality we have been given. 

I don't like me at a level 9. Others don't like me at that level either. Good news is that God loves me at whatever level I have allowed my life to emulate at that given time. That love He has for me makes me want to be the best Loyalist I possibly can be. I'm starting to see that the words used to describe Level 1 are more and more what my reality looks like. I'm not becoming a Level 1 because of a lot of hard work on self improvement. I'm becoming a better Loyalist because I'm starting to believe more in who made me to be in the first place. It is as I lean into who God says I am that my personality type reflects positively in the behavior the rest of the world comes into contact with in my life.

Today's Bible reading holds the key to being the best victor you possibly can be. Let's read the scriptures now.

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 (NIV)

Love is the key for me to be the best Loyalist I possibly can be. I need to learn to love others and to learn how to love myself. I think I can do this as I let the fact that God loves me sink in to my soul more and more. It all starts with God's love. Where it ends is only limited by how much we want to live like the victor God made us to be.

No matter what your personality type, no matter at what level of performance you live out that personality type, know this - God loves you! Take that with you into all that you do today. Let that fact be the driving force behind how you are wired to take on your day. It is then and only then that your personality comes alive in ways that make victim thinking a thing of the past.