EDITOR’S NOTE: While regular Millennial Monday blogger Emily Howsden is away on maternity leave, Millennial Monday will continue as guest bloggers fill in over the next couple of months.
Hello! My name is Hannah. I have the pleasure of guest writing on this Millennial Monday blog as my friend and co-worker, Emily, steps out for maternity leave. As I began my blogging process, coffee in hand, I began to contemplate what to write about in light of this being a blog with insights for and from young adults my age.
I would like to start off by telling you something about myself that I just recently discovered… I am a “Three.”
Some of you know exactly what I mean when I say this, and some of you are currently masking your confusion with a polite smile. When I say, “I am a Three”, I am referring to a popular personality test called Enneagram.
Enneagram is not unlike the Myers-Briggs personality test, where you answer several questions, and then, at the end of this nearly 15-minute test, your personality is revealed to you either through letters, titles or numbers. Enneagram utilizes numbers, which brings me back around to who I am… a Three.
A Three, according to my Enneagram results, is “The Achiever.” Threes are success-oriented, adaptable, excelling, driven and image-conscious. A Three’s primary weakness is the fear of being worthless. You can find your number here.
I first heard about this test at a game night with some of my friends. Everyone talked endlessly about their number and what that meant about them. Each person affirmed the others’ numbers and results. I heard about the test a second time at supper with a friend, then a third time at my Bible study. Each time I became more and more curious about my number.
I finally Googled it and took the test. Really, in the end, it affirmed what everyone told me I would be… an assertive and bold Three. Nearly all my friends identified who they knew me to be, based on the number system, and it was no surprise to them when I revealed my number.
Before long, almost all my friend groups were discussing the test. The Eights loudly proclaimed their number. The Twos meekly introduced themselves. We were lucky if we got the Fours to admit who they were (though we all knew). Eventually, all nine personalities were revealed.
Naturally, the more I observed this new party trick of revealing your number, the more I became unsettled. What is our obsession with knowing the results of this test? Or rather, what is our obsession with knowing ourselves?
The search for ourselves, or rather, our identity, began in the Garden of Eden. God created us and formed us. He gave us purpose and personality. But it wasn’t enough for our patriarch, Adam, and matriarch, Eve. They sought out and acted upon what each of us desires most—an identity autonomous from God.
We desire that even now. Our hearts crave sin and distance from God. The Enemy has fed a lie to believers for centuries, that we can do good apart from God. But Scripture tells us otherwise.
God’s Word says that our personality types, our human nature and our earthly character seek to please one person – self. Cain reveals it when he claims to have no regard or responsibility for anyone but himself (Gen. 4:9). Jeremiah identifies it when he says the heart is deceptive above all else (Jer. 17:9). Paul makes a point of training and pushing believers away from it by encouraging a selfless outlook (Phil. 2:4, 1 Cor. 10:24, and Gal. 6:2). John reminds Christ followers to fight against it, the selfish nature, within them (1 John 2:15-16).
Time and time again, the church has given the Enemy a foothold by allowing him and the world around us to form our identity for us. Essentially, we look at the identity Christ has given us, and we trample it underfoot to pursue wealth, respect, popularity, family, romance and whatever else our sinful heart can conjure to chase and poorly prioritize.
Beloved, personality tests will never identify who we truly are. Nothing will but the Holy Scriptures. Don’t abuse or put your identity in a simple test that loops you in a number, title or series of letters that simply cannot detect how sinful nor how saved you are.
My name is Hannah. I am a Three according to the Enneagram personality test, a “Commander” according to Myers-Briggs and sassy according to my mom. But because I have been bought with the precious blood of Christ, I am also…
A holy priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9-10), complete (Col. 2:10), a child of the Light (1 Thess. 5:5), heaven called (Heb. 4:16), born again (1 Pet. 1:23), healed (Is. 53:5), commissioned (Matt. 28:19-20), clean (John 15:3), given glory (John 17:22), a joint heir with Christ Himself (Rom. 8:17), and, praise God, a NEW creation (2 Cor. 5:17)!
Thank you, reader, for letting me step into Millennial Monday today and share my thoughts. I pray you are encouraged to seek the Person in Whom you find your identity. Happy Monday!