Who Are You?

You are a unique creation of God, endowed with incredible worth.  In Psalm 139, the Psalmist writes:
13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

There is only one "you."  You are absolutely one-of-a-kind.  You have certain personality traits, as well as physical attributes, that God wants to use for His glory.  Now, there are some negative traits that He wants to refine or prune so that you will reflect the likeness of Jesus in you, and there are positives that He wants to grow.  All in all, as a child of God and a servant of Jesus, He wants His identity to flow through your life, so that He can take your unique giftedness and bring glory to Himself.

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In Ephesians chapter 4, we see some elements of the sanctified life, a life in which we embrace our identity in Christ. We are told in verses 22 and following to...
(22) put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Christianity is certainly not immune from new "hot trends" that will arise from time to time.  Some of those can be beneficial, others can be outright dangerous.  It's important that when we see a new practice that is being embraced that we are discerning and hold up all things that purport to be Christian to the standards of Scripture.

So, when I see that something is perhaps "catching on" among Christians, it may bear a second look - or more, with a raised eyebrow, in some cases.  Such is the case with something I came across called the "enneagram."  Here's the down-low on it, according to a Christianity Today article from several years ago.  The author, Laura Ortberg Turner, writes, referring to a book called, The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective by Richard Rohr and Andreas Ebert:

If it sounds a little mystical at first, that’s because the roots of the Enneagram stretch back to the fourth century —or so authors Rohr and Ebert posit. Its exact origins are contested, but by many accounts, the idea of having nine types (“Enneagram” means “nine-pointed shape”) derives from Evagrius Ponticus’s eight deadly thoughts and the central thought he called “love of self.” Ponticus was a Christian monk and ascetic, a Roman citizen in the late 4th century who lived in a monastic community outside of Alexandria many years of his life.

During his tenure in Alexandria, Ponticus developed a list of deadly thoughts: vainglory, anger, greed, gluttony, sloth, sorrow, pride, and lust, to which he added “love of self” as the first thought of all. This list provided the blueprint for what were to become the Seven Deadly Sins of the Catholic Church, which Pope Gregory I would assemble from this list some 200 years later.

A recent Religion News Service article listed the 9 personality types:

One: The Perfectionist
Two: The Helper
Three: The Achiever
Four: The Individualist
Five: The Investigator
Six: The Loyalist
Seven: The Enthusiast
Eight: The Challenger
Nine: The Peacemaker

Turner goes on to say that:

The types all correspond with a specific need or temptation. The two, for example, has the need to be needed—they will make themselves indispensible to others and worry they are not valuable when they are unwanted. The eight has the need to oppose whatever threatens to control them or whatever forces of injustice they perceive. The three—my type—lives under the need to succeed. We are driven by a fear of being worthless, and so we will tap-dance our way through life in order to receive the accolades we so deeply desire.

The RNS story attempted to further the theory that this is something that is growing in practice.

There's a new book about the Enneagram, and one of the authors, Ian Morgan Cron, who is described as "an author, counselor, songwriter and Episcopal priest," who discovered it when he was in seminary, set it aside because someone likened it to a horoscope, and picked it back up again, said, "Now 20 years later, it’s fascinating to me even the (conservative) evangelicals are completely fine with it. … I have not received any pushback from anybody..."

Jarell Wilson, the church start resident at Urban Village Church in Chicago, sees the Enneagram’s popularity as part of a larger trend of Christians rediscovering ancient spiritual practices. He is quoted as saying, "I think there’s a tendency to want to go back to things that are deeper,” adding, "There’s a ton of Buzzfeed quizzes. There’s Myers-Briggs and all of this other kind of stuff. To connect to something that’s been working (for centuries) is just a little better. It feels more holistic. We’re connecting to other cultures, too.”

To me, this practice seems to have taken root in the more liberal elements of Christianity, who are also termed, "progressive," but Wilson, as well as Rich Havard, campus pastor of The Inclusive Collective at the University of Illinois at Chicago, believe that this practice could appeal to "progressives" and conservatives. It's “really popular” at Havard’s church, too, and the pastor related that an evangelical friend studied the Enneagram while working on a doctorate in ministry.

Skepticism?!  Absolutely.  Endorsement?  Not hardly.  But, this can lead to a discussion or examination of some of the basic tenets that you could associate with the Enneagram.

One positive here is the embrace of the concept of human sinfulness.  We live in an "anything goes" culture, so in our desire to experience the love of God and to "feel" loved, there are those that would have a diminished view of God's holiness and the necessity to live by His standards.  To be able to properly identify our sinful areas and take the necessary steps to ask for forgiveness and to repent are worthwhile pursuits in the Christian life.

There is also the notion of identifying elements of our personalities.  There are a number of personality type "tests" that are out there that can assist us in an improved life.  What is our personality type?  Well, we can know that  are wired in a certain way by our Creator, and God wants to infuse our personality with the identity of Christ.  If we take the time to scrutinize who we are, then we can take steps to maximize the positive traits, minimize the negative, and even turn, through the power of the Spirit, negative traits into positive outcomes.

Finally, a word about discernment.  It is critical that spiritual practices line up with Biblical instruction.  And, just because something claims to be "spiritual" doesn't mean it's Biblical.  We can train ourselves in the Scriptures so that we have that working knowledge of what lines up.  One further note - associations can be important.   If you have a collection of trusted Christian leaders and organizations that are endorsing or opposing a practice or product, that can be very helpful, as well.  I use associations as a leading determinant in choosing guests for the radio show here.  Fortunately, in partnership with the Holy Spirit, we can make wise choices that can enhance our spiritual growth.