Have you ever caught yourself thinking it’s great that you aren’t like all those people who don’t know the Lord? Ever patted yourself on the back, glad you have a special truth most other people don’t know about? Or been proud that you’re one of the few God chose to make a Christian?
The truths God has revealed to us are precious. But God didn’t give them to us because we’re anything special or because we have some innate ability to live a holier life than other people. He’s not out to make us proud of our moral or spiritual superiority. In fact, pride is hateful to God (Prov. 6:16-17; 16:5).
I’m sure most of us don’t go around with an attitude that intentionally says, “Look at me! I’m such a very good Christian and I’m better than other people.” But I also think that it’s easy for us to slip into a habit of acting as if we think something very similar. We set up an “us versus them” in our minds where we’re the ones with special knowledge and all the people who don’t believe what we do are in some way less than us. And that’s not a good place to start if we want to reach out to people in a godly way. Read more →
One of the hardest personality dynamics to navigate is Sensing/Intuition. Part of this is due to the fact that Intuitive only make up about 25-30% of the population. That can lead to Intuitives feeling misunderstood and marginalized. On top of that, because our Sensing/Intuitive preference influences so much of how we conceptualize reality, someone who doesn’t share our S/N preference seems even less “like us” than those who don’t match on the E/I, T/F, or J/P preferences.
An unfortunate side-effect of the challenges involved in navigating Sensing/Intuitive relationships is that there’s now a bias against Sensing types in many parts of the personality type community. The myth that Intuitives are intellectually superior to Sensors and that Sensors will never understand them is now widespread among both Sensors and Intuitives.
However, it’s simply not the case that Intuition is better than Sensing. Both preferences grant advantages in certain areas and disadvantages in others. Myers-Briggs® theory is designed to explain how our minds work. It doesn’t say one way of processing is better than another or invite us to make that judgement. So with that being the case, lets take a closer look at the advantages of using Sensing or Intuition. Read more →
The Holy Spirit is the power of God in our lives. As the part of God that gets inside us and transforms us, this Spirit is essential to our walk of faith. But I don’t think we spend enough time letting these truths really sink in (I know I haven’t).
While reading Dr. Juli Slattery’s book Rethinking Sexuality, I’ve been surprised by how many lessons in this book are applicable to the whole of our Christian walk. Pages 116-117 in particular struck me as some of the deepest Christian writings I’ve ever read. In this passage, Dr. Slattery says that embracing the truth that “the Holy Spirit is the power of God in our lives” radically changes how we try to follow God.
It really should be an obvious concept. But far too often, I think many of us ask God for help with living His way of life and yet don’t recognize how that help shows up. We ask to be filled with power, but don’t always know how to use it or even recognize it’s there. And to further complicate matters, we keep trying to do things on our own instead of truly relying on God working in us.
“The ability to live the Christian life is impossible outside of the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew this when He told His disciples, ‘Be glad I’m going away because the Holy Spirit is coming!’ His words mean that we are more equipped to live the Christian life by the power of the Holy Spirit than we would be if we could follow Jesus around everywhere.” (Rethinking Sexuality, p. 116)
I’m sure Jesus’ disciples were confused when He said, “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away the Counselor won’t come to you” (John 16:7, WEB). And I think if given the choice, most of us would rather be able to see Jesus and talk with Him face-to-face than have things like they are now. But Jesus would never lie to us, so it must be true that there’s an advantage to knowing Him and the Father through the Holy Spirit that we wouldn’t have if Jesus had stayed here on earth. Read more →
I often see Intuitive types describe their experience of intuition as a “gut feeling.” It’s not something we can explain — it’s just something we know. And that is a valid way to describe a lot of what we experience from using Intuition. But if that was all there was to intuition, then we’d be able to describe a lot more than 30% of the population as Intuitive types.
When people talk about intuition, they usually mean something different than what type theorists mean when they refer to Intuition as a psychological function. Google defines intuition as “the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.” We might also use the word intuitive to mean “suited by nature for a particular purpose in life,” as when we speak of intuitive athletes or creative types who “just know” how to do something.
In her book Personality Type, Lenore Thomson points out, “Most of the people to whom we apply the word intuitive in this causal way aren’t Intuitives — at least not typologically. They’re usually Sensates and Introverted P types, whose right-brain abilities the left brain can’t explain to itself” (p. 199). I’ve also noticed that some of the things that Intuitives describe as part of their intuition are actually connected with other mental processes. For example, an INFJ might say they intuitively know how to blend in with different social groups when in reality that ability is tied to their harmony-seeking Extroverted Feeling process more than to their Introverted Intuition.
So if Intuition, in the typological sense, isn’t want people usually think of when they think of intuition, what is it? Read more →
What fictional characters do you relate to as an ISTP?
Just as we can describe real people using the Myers-Briggs® typology system, we can also use the system to type well-written fictional characters. Some of fiction’s most iconic and intriguing characters are ISTPs — they make particularly good action heroes — and today we’re going to talk about seven that I think real-life ISTPs will find relatable.
One great thing about looking at character personality types is that it helps us better understand people who have different types than we do. Fictional ISTPs can serve as examples for what real-life ISTPs might be like, and also show how much variation can exist between individuals with the same type.
One of the things that makes ISTPs such great fictional characters is that they pair the spatial awareness and physical skills needed to lead an action/adventure story with the clever quick-wittedness that we like to see in a hero. Tactical skills, good luck, and a dry sense of humor aren’t the only things that characterize ISTPs types, though. I love it when we see ISTP characters developed throughout several movies or in a TV series so there’s more of an opportunity to for them to grow beyond stereotypes, and that’s the case with most of the characters on this list.
Han Solo
While not every ISTP — fictional or real — is going to fall into the action hero mold, a high percentage of action heroes in fiction are ISTPs. We could probably put most of Harrison Ford’s roles on this list, but as a huge Star Wars fan I’m going to to with our favorite scruffy-looking nerf herder Han Solo. He’s also the ISTP Susan Storm chose for her post “The Greatest Movie Heroes of Every Myers-Briggs® Personality Type.” I’d like to quote part of that article:
Han Solo captures the devil-may-care, quick-thinking qualities of the ISTP. We see his Introverted Thinking (Ti) in the way keeps his rational thought processes internalized. He is constantly expanding and making improvements to the Millennium Falcon, and needs to know why he must do something before making a decision. This constant tinkering and modifying and the search to constantly know “why” are all hallmarks of Introverted Thinking types.
Han also shows an ISTPs co-pilot process (extroverted Sensing) in his ability to respond quickly to the outer world. He’s impulsive and often jumps into things without much of a plan, but he has a talent for figuring things out as he goes. Read more →
Freedom is often held up as one of the highest human ideals. Freedom from oppression or enslavement, freedom of choice, freedom of expression — those things are so important that people have fought and even died for them throughout history.
When Jesus came to this world as God made flesh, He was born as a Jewish man in a world ruled by Rome. He preached a message of freedom, but not necessarily the type of freedom the people around Him wanted. Many thought they needed a Messiah to kick-out the Romans. Instead, they got a Messiah interested in freeing them from a different kind of bondage.
Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” … “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin. A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever. If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:31-23, 34-36, WEB)
By the end of the conversation that these words are part of, the Jews had accused Jesus of having a demon and picked up stones to throw at him (John 8:31-59). They refused to accept that they were in bondage to sin or that their Israelite lineage couldn’t save them. They dishonored Jesus by rejecting Him and the truth He brought of their need for salvation. And if we’re not careful, we can make a similar mistake today.
God + “Something”
I’m reading a book called Rethinking Sexuality: God’s Design and Why It Matters by Dr. Juli Slattery. I think it’ll be one of the best Christian non-fiction books I’ve ever read, and I bring it up in this post to share a point she makes about our attitudes in approaching God. She talks about examples in Judges and Romans of people who “had a form of worship and spirituality that might have even included God. Yet their worship of God was ‘God plus something.'”
“This is what is happening in Modern Christianity. While we may worship God, we worship something else right along with God. … We elevate our own reasoning and experience as equal to or greater than God’s wisdom. We look inward for truth instead of looking upward. While we sing of God’s power and majesty in church, we suspend His rule over how we approach sexuality” (p. 37).
The problem of a “God plus something” attitude has profound implications in all areas of our lives, not just sexuality. We should not dare put our own ideas or desires higher than God’s word, and yet we keep making excuses or trying to rationalize our way out of submission and obedience. When we hold any part of ourselves back from fully submitting to God’s authority as Creator and Lord, we end up enslaved by the things we’ve added to or substituted for true worship.
In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other; or he will be devoted to one and despise the other” (Matt. 6:24, WEB). If we’re trying to serve “God plus something” then we’re not really serving God. He doesn’t accept divided loyalty and we can’t pick-and-choose what parts of Him we want. Either you recognize Jesus as Lord in your life and act accordingly, or you don’t.
In addition, just saying “Lord, Lord” isn’t enough. We have to actually do the things He says (Luke 6:46). While we will make mistakes and God understands that, He wants us to consistently try to follow Him. If we don’t seek God with all we are and do our best to love Him with all our heart, mind, and soul then we don’t really understand what it means to be a Christian.
Don’t you know that when you present yourselves as servants and obey someone, you are the servants of whomever you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? (Rom. 6:16, WEB)
In many ways, what we typically think of as “freedom” is an illusion. Even if we’re free to do whatever we want and follow our own impulses, we’re under the control of our own human nature and vulnerable to Satan’s influence. That’s slavery to sin. The world will tell you that obedience to Christ means giving up freedom, but in reality the only true freedom is found in Him. We can only be free when Christ removes the shackles of sin, making it possible for us to deeply connect with and serve the God who created us to be in relationship with Him.
But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were delivered. Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness. … But now, being made free from sin, and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification, and the result of eternal life. (Rom. 6:17-18, 22, WEB)
We might at first find this idea offensive or even frightening. Where’s the freedom Jesus talked about in being a bondservant of God? The two types of service we get to pick from are very different, though. Serving sin leads to misery and death. Servants of God and His righteousness gain sanctification and eternal life.
Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and may have it abundantly” (John 10:10, WEB). The word “abundantly” means over and above, more than necessary, extraordinary, and superior. Life with God is far more wonderful and exciting than any life without Him could be. To quote Dr. Slattery again, “God is not a distant God. His love for you is not simply a sterile call to obedience. He invites us to enter a passionate celebration of covenant love with Him” (p. 60).
Being a bondservant of God is about enjoying true freedom within a secure, reliable, incredibly loving relationship with our Creator and Lord. It’s only when we’re all-in to serving God that we can truly be free.
Like An Anchor 