Myers-Briggs

I am pretty sure that I have annoyed everyone who knows me with my constant references to the Myers-Briggs test. (But in case you haven't taken it, here is a good link: http://www.ithaca.edu/mathcs/LearnStyle/MyersBriggsTest.shtml) I find it fascinating. I can’t help myself! Being able to understand what makes others do the things they do and possibly predict behavior and reactions is a wonderful thing to me. I honestly can’t get enough of it. And so I apologize to all of you who do not feel the same way and who get annoyed by my frequent outbursts of, “You must be a P!” or “That must be an NFJ thing.”

I know you are never supposed to define a word by using that word in the definition, but there is no way around it in this situation. It’s because I am an INFJ that I am so interested in the Myers-Briggs personality types. As an N, I like to make connections between things, see meaning behind actions, and create metaphors. My F characteristics desire harmony in relationships, and what better way to have harmony than to understand others? To quote the Myers-Briggs description of an INFJ: INFJs “seek meaning and connection in ideas, relationships, and material possessions; want to understand what motivates people and are insightful about others.” So my Myers-Briggs type leads me to be interested in knowing everyone else’s Myers-Briggs type! :)

It is not just my personality type that causes me to be interested in figuring myself and others out. There is also the desire to know and be known which God has given to all of us. This innate desire is part of the reason we are drawn to God. He is the only one who can know us fully. He is also the only one who can love us perfectly, because He knows absolutely everything about us and still loves and accepts us. Psalm 139 expresses how completely God knows us:

“O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you. You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! […] Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” (Psalm 139:1-18, 23-24)

I may have to work to understand others, but God doesn’t. His knowledge of us is perfect. I apologize again if my focus on personality types has seemed a bit overboard. I am not trying to put you in a box, but rather understand you and improve my ability to relate to you and serve you.