I just started reading a really interesting book.
It’s a typology book based on personality types from a Christian perspective. And for anyone who knows me, they’ll know how much I love the study of psychology, and so, I find this book absolutely fascinating.
Case in point, someone with a type 6 personality – referred to as, “The Loyalist.”
These people are the committed, security-oriented type, with an engaging, responsible and anxious type personality.
When this type of person is operating at their best, they are self-affirming, trusting of others, lovable, affectionate and endearing. They are responsible, reliable, trust-worthy, hard-working, willing to sacrifice for others and they create a sense of stability and security for themselves, for others, and the world around them.
When these people are operating at their worst, they look a lot more like this:
Panicky, volatile and self-disparaging with feelings of inferiority. They lash-out, act irrationally, and generally react with passive-aggressive patterns.
Isn’t it interesting that we expect people to cut us some slack when we’re living in seasons of unhealth or having a bad day, but we expect everyone else to be operating at and offering us their best?
What if, like Jesus, we chose to see people for the best that have to offer rather than the worst they might be currently extending?
As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
…he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”
When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.
Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
“No, Lord,” she said.
And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
– John 8: 3-5;7;9-11 –
Jesus saw the best in her, not the worst.
Isn’t this what it means to be in this world but not of it?
To see differently.
Hear discerningly.
Offer unconditionally.
Serve sacrificially.
Love radically.
And live counter-culturally?
Everyday we ourselves are extended underserved grace through His death and resurrection, but do we extend this same courtesy to those around us?
Everyday we live at the mercy of His great love and compassion, but do we offer this same ‘no strings attached’ hope and perspective?
It’s a choice to see the best. Not the worst.
See it in yourself. See it in those around you. And make this typology your kind of church, your style of faith, and your way of Christianity.