While it may be beneficial to take personality tests in the business world, what role should they play for the Christian?
The other day, the topic of conversation in my home was personality tests. If you’ve been here for a bit, you’ve probably heard me talk about the enneagram and my experience with it. If this is a new topic to you, you can read all about my journey with the enneagram here. Spoiler alert: Christians should steer clear.
I have always struggled with personality tests and spiritual gifts tests. It has taken me a long time to figure out why they rub me the wrong way. I don’t believe it is a sin to take these tests, but I don’t believe they are particularly productive, especially for a Christian. But before we talk about that, let’s think through the reasons these types of tests are taken.
Personality tests seem to be more common in business circles. Whether it is the Disc Profile, the Meyers-Briggs Indicator, or the enneagram, the goal is to figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are. This makes sense from a business standpoint because if you want your business to succeed, you want to take on those tasks that fall to your strengths and delegate the ones in which you don’t excel. The purpose is success.
Spiritual gifts tests are usually taken in churches or other ministries. We aren’t really given a comprehensive list of spiritual gifts in Scripture, and if you’re a cessationist (you believe some spiritual gifts have ceased to exist), some of those that are given have to be either ignored or redefined. But the goal is to put you in positions of service that best suit your gifts. If you are gifted in hospitality but score very low on administration, you might be better suited to be a greeter at the door than to track the finances of the church. If you want your church to run smoothly, you play to people’s strengths.
Maybe the reason I have struggled with this idea is because, as a missionary kid, I was a “hole plugger”: if there was a hole in any part of our ministry, someone in our family usually plugged it, even if that wasn’t one of our gifts. My dad learned to play the accordion so he could provide accompaniment for the song service when my grandmother was ill and couldn’t play the piano. When there was no one to clean the church, my sisters and I became the church janitors. If the nursery workers didn’t show up one Sunday, it became my job to fill in. And far from being a detriment to my growth, these experiences were the ones that taught me the most. So while I understand the reason churches administer these tests, I don’t see it as essential or even necessary.
The tests box you in
It doesn’t matter which personality test I take, I never like the results. And with most of the tests, there is no option of movement—once a melancholy, always a melancholy. The saying, “the grass is always greener on the other side” has certainly been true for me with each of these tests I’ve taken.
The tests encourage deceit
Maybe it is just my personality (pun intended), but anytime I’ve taken a personality or spiritual gifts test, I know what the “right” answer is to get my desired outcome. The tests lend themselves to deceit because you don’t want to answer truthfully. Instead, you want to give the answer that paints you in the best light for that question. Your answer is also highly influenced by your mood or health that day, which skews the results.
The tests give you an out
As I said before, growing up, my sisters and I were hole pluggers, and it has always been frustrating to me when the same few people in a church are doing all of the jobs. The most common excuse I hear when others won’t volunteer is that it isn’t their gifting, or they aren’t good at that job, or it isn’t their strong suit. Yet Scripture tells us that God is strong in our weakness. We shouldn’t only be doing those jobs that fall in our strengths because then we are doing them in our strength. When we take on jobs or ministries that land squarely in our weaknesses, God is glorified through our work.
The tests don’t solve the problem
We are under the delusion that understanding our personalities or our spiritual gifts will give us confidence to do what God has tasked us to do. It will embolden us because we are “playing to our strengths.” Or we will “be the best version of ourselves.” When the truth is self-knowledge will never lead to Christlikeness. And isn’t that the goal? To become more like Christ, not be the best version of myself? No amount of navel gazing will help me be more like Christ. In fact, introspection is a tool of the enemy because as long as I have my eyes on myself, I don’t have my eyes on Christ.
Confidence comes from knowing God. As we spend time in the Word, getting to know Him—His character, His plans, His desires for us—we start to see how we can be a light in this dark world. As we begin to understand His heart, we grow bolder in our witness and in our prayer life. As we get a glimpse of who we are in light of who He is, we understand how to best serve Him in spite of the results of any man-made test.
When it comes down to it, relying on personality and spiritual gifts tests shows that we do not actually believe in the sufficiency of Scripture. We believe that we need something outside of Scripture, outside of God’s Word, to tell us how to behave, what to do, and who to be.
Let me encourage you to invest your time in reading, studying, and understanding God’s Word rather than taking personality tests. God allows for growth and change; He wants to transform you from the inside out. He values truth and courage; He wants you to step out in faith and take on the tasks He places before you in spite of your weakness. He doesn’t give you an out; your spirit will be restless until you obey. And He does solve your problems because He knows you better than you could ever know yourself, and He knows what will give you peace in this tumultuous world.
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