I took a personality/spiritual gifts profile test for the ministry class that I'm in. The results of the DISC test came back that I am a high SC, which are characterized as steady, tediously detailed and over-accurate, organized and non-confrontational. My high spiritual gifts came out to be teaching, knowledge, giving, and then right under those came prophecy and a few others. There was an interesting side note in the report that mentioned that Jeremiah was very likely an SC personality type, and obviously he was a prophet. It said that was an uncommon and kind of paradoxical mixture. For one thing, SC's generally are not bold in proclaiming anything. They are not drivers. They'd rather not rock the boat. They also tend to be extremely compassionate toward others. So when you add in the gift of prophecy, you get someone like Jeremiah. A murderous compassion. Preaching doom and gloom, cutting throats with his words of apocalypse, and then literally crying about it in the very next sentence. He begs God to forgive the people over and over, or to turn His wrath away from them. He prophecies against many nations and peoples and when the things he had prophesied come to pass, he writes a book of Lamentations, lamenting the terrible destruction. It almost sounds bipolar.
But it isn't. And I'll tell you why it isn't. S is characterized by sturdiness. Someone with a strong foundation. S-type people are very slow to anger, slow to act (till all possibilities have been logically weighed), and are generally considered to be loyal and reliable by others. Jeremiah's foundation was God. In Jeremiah 1, God put His word into Jeremiah's mouth. He then threatened him, saying that if he was terrified of proclaiming it, God would terrify him in front of the people he was terrified of. Jeremiah was a steady kind of guy, and at that moment, his steadiness changed foundations, or at least matured. His love for Israel is extremely apparent throughout the two books of the Bible that he authored. That stays the same throughout, as well as his compassion for people in general. He loves people almost like God does.
Human beings are fairly emotionally complex. We are created in God's image which means that He must be too. But emotions are not foundational to a person. Personality is. Emotions come and go. Personality really never goes anywhere. God's personality is loving, kind, forgiving, and yet perfectly holy and just. Jeremiah's was similar to that. So while his emotions go haywire (much like God who does or almost does seemingly rash things at times in His "burning anger"), he himself is still the same steady, compassionate prophet. He based his life on God's word (literally), and while it changed what he did with his time, God chose him, I am convinced, precisely because of who he was. He was loyal to God just as he would have been to anyone else. He was compassionate to people in their heart-rending judgment just as he would have been in other circumstances. He remained wholly himself while being used wholly by God.
Now here's the part that freaks me out. I have these same characteristics. Now that I know what God can do with someone like me, I'm a little anxious (and frankly scared) of what He might have in store for me. I'm going to be reading up on Jeremiah this week. I think this is going to be a wild ride.
But it isn't. And I'll tell you why it isn't. S is characterized by sturdiness. Someone with a strong foundation. S-type people are very slow to anger, slow to act (till all possibilities have been logically weighed), and are generally considered to be loyal and reliable by others. Jeremiah's foundation was God. In Jeremiah 1, God put His word into Jeremiah's mouth. He then threatened him, saying that if he was terrified of proclaiming it, God would terrify him in front of the people he was terrified of. Jeremiah was a steady kind of guy, and at that moment, his steadiness changed foundations, or at least matured. His love for Israel is extremely apparent throughout the two books of the Bible that he authored. That stays the same throughout, as well as his compassion for people in general. He loves people almost like God does.
Human beings are fairly emotionally complex. We are created in God's image which means that He must be too. But emotions are not foundational to a person. Personality is. Emotions come and go. Personality really never goes anywhere. God's personality is loving, kind, forgiving, and yet perfectly holy and just. Jeremiah's was similar to that. So while his emotions go haywire (much like God who does or almost does seemingly rash things at times in His "burning anger"), he himself is still the same steady, compassionate prophet. He based his life on God's word (literally), and while it changed what he did with his time, God chose him, I am convinced, precisely because of who he was. He was loyal to God just as he would have been to anyone else. He was compassionate to people in their heart-rending judgment just as he would have been in other circumstances. He remained wholly himself while being used wholly by God.
Now here's the part that freaks me out. I have these same characteristics. Now that I know what God can do with someone like me, I'm a little anxious (and frankly scared) of what He might have in store for me. I'm going to be reading up on Jeremiah this week. I think this is going to be a wild ride.
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