Spiritual Growth with Myers-Briggs
Who You Are
I believe that in order for us to fully mature in Christ we must know who we are. One way that we can do this is by better understanding our personality. How does one do this? At least one way is to take the Myers-Briggs test.
Here are some areas where you can take this test for free:
Where To Start
- Take one of the free tests.
- After you discover what your personality type is, please visit The Personality Type Portraits to better understand your personality.
- Then please come back and share with us how you enjoy/serve God with your type.
I will share my personality type below. Please share your personality type in the comments.
I Am An ISFP
I have spoken on my personality type a bit on my site Mosaic Mercy. ISFP’s are known as artists. At first I found this to be odd because I don’t paint or sculpt. After I thought about it for a while I did discover that I like to:
- take photographs
- write
- play guitar & sing
- sculpt my finely tuned abs (just kidding)
All of my points, save the last, are types of creations. Artists, create.
How Can I Use ISFP For God?
Eric Liddle says in the movie Chariots of Fire, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.
I feel God’s pleasure when I write. Did God make me a good writer like He made Eric Liddle a good runner? Probably not, but then again good writing is developed through consistent writing. The point is I feel God’s pleasure when I am writing, especially when I am writing a post on Strive for Maturity. The reason is because I hope that through my writing men will be motivated to become more like Jesus.
ISFP’s also “are keenly in tune with the way things look, taste, sound, feel and smell (Portrait of an ISFP).” I think this is one of the main reasons I love to serve here in Germany. This summer my wife and I took a bike ride through the countryside of Germany. Our bike path took us along a wheat field. As we rode by it, I listened intently to the sound the breeze was making as it passed through this golden wheat. I don’t even know how to explain it but this wonderful creation of God made more sense to me than most poetry I have read. Not only did it make me feel more physically alive but more spiritually alive as well.
I grow spiritually by doing things like reading the Bible and praying. But I also believe that I grow more spiritually by honoring God with my writing.
Your turn. Please share with us your personality type and how you enjoy/serve God through it.
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I’m an ISFJ. I did this test for the first time a few years ago and it was amazing how on point it was. It is a huge step in understanding who I am (self-actualization). But even higher than that on Maslow’s pyramid, as a Christian I believe my identity is found in Christ after I understand how I was built. It really is a sense of freedom!
ISFP here. Thanks for commenting Tony.
I've not heard of Maslow's pyramid.
I am glad that the test helped you in your walk with Jesus.
We have the SF in common. I am glad that it describes you accurately because this is more proof that that Myers-Briggs is helpful.
About your weaknesses: Shhhhh
Just sweep those under the rug
Here were some of my weaknesses:
1. May be slow to show their affection with words
2. Tendency to hold back their thoughts and feelings, unless drawn out
3. May become overly cynical and practical
These, unfortunately, are dead on.
I think we've chatted about this one before, but I'm an ENTP… and yes, it describes me well. Here's a sample of what that means:
http://typelogic.com/entp.html
Advantages: I try things out – "cut corners" as it says – when other people are scared to. I think that helps me be an encourager.
Disadvantages: Patience is out the window, which especially dangerous when it comes to relationships with other people.
Back in April, I took an evangelism class, and in the second meeting, we all took some personality tests. I liked that, but we never got into specifically how each different personality helped and hindered others. I like that we're doing that a bit here. Good post, David.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
My recent post 3 steps to creating your own version of how to make a friend
Thanks for the great comment.
Hmm… you have a problem with patience. So if you and I were to meet face to face God would test you. Introverts take longer to form sentences than extroverts.
I am rereading Introverts in the Church by Adam McHugh. He mentions that extros use dopamine and intros use acetylcholine. Both are neurotransmitters but work in different ways.
Dopamine helps one recall quickly and I think it is good for short-term memory. Acetylcholine has a calming effect and I believe it is good for long-term memory.
Blood flows faster in your brain and slower in mine. When I am trying to form my sentence, your natural tendency might be to want to finish it for me.
Whether extrovert or introvert, we both have disadvantages that we need to work on.
Mine is being anti-social. I am better at writing than speaking in person.
I just went to your site and noticed that it is different. Are you changing themes?
Well, trying to change themes. I'd like to attempt to create my own, but I might not have the patience for that. :>) I don't know what I'm doing.
About socializing, yes, I can have a tendency to finish sentences. Good observation (that's one of your strengths, right?). It's one of those things that annoys other people – it certainly bothers me when I'm on the receiving end – but when I do it, it usually means I'm so interested that I feel like I'm right with you… even if I'm not. Weird how that works. (And by the way, it helps if I can keep that in mind when I'm interrupted too.)
In general, though, my impatience shows more in ideas than in the details of conversation. I'm more impatient when people, in my mind at least, should "get it" by now but for whatever reason don't… or are afraid to move forward. Again, that ability to move forward seems to be both my strength and my weakness: a personal strength but a social weakness.
Anyway, did you ever post a review of Introverts in the Church? I must have missed it if you did.
I really enjoy these kinds of conversations with you, David. Learning more about friends and people in general, especially their personalities and how they view life, is fascinating to me. My best (?) friend is an introvert, and I've learned more from him or indirectly through him than any other peer, and often it's from these kinds of conversations.
I appreciate you sharing.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
I enjoy these conversation also.
I never did review the book because I think that is when we were starting to pack for our move to Germany. I might review the book (one of my weaknesses… because of perfectionism… also one of my weaknesses) after I read it this time.
I hope you have some luck with designing your site. Right now I am in to using Elegant Themes: http://www.elegantthemes.com/
They are fairly customizable and I am assuming that they are coded pretty good since I did pay for a membership.
If I ever have a super popular blog, where when I sneeze on the keyboard people leave 100 comments, I may pay for a really expensive theme. But this would mean that I was making money from the site also.
I like to dream! xD
[New Post] Spiritual Growth with Myers-Briggs – via @strivematurity http://striveformaturity.com/spiritual-g...
I am an INTJ. That means I will attempt to create systems to take over the world …
… for Jesus of course.