October 21, 2018
The Struggle is Real
Dangerous Grace: Paul's Letter to the Romans
I recently took one of those personality tests for work. You are probably familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality profile. The profile test I took recently was for the “DiSC” behavior profile. Instead of telling what your personality traits are, like Myers-Briggs, the “DiSC” profile tells you about your default behaviors. That is, how you behave when you aren’t thinking about how you are behaving. These are your natural behavioral leanings. This test asks you several multiple-choice questions, all of which have no right answer. In fact, all the answers seem like the “right” answer, leaving you paralyzed staring at your screen searching for the “All of the above” choice. Hint: it’s not there. In the end, the test produces insights into how you behave using one or two profile types. In all honesty, this is an excellent test that can provide you with valuable insight about your behaviors, both good and bad. In a way, this profile paints a portrait of your behavior that allows you to look at things more clearly.
The portrait that this DiSC profile paints of my own behavior is very revealing. I learned that I have a very optimistic viewpoint to most things. This was affirming because I believe my optimistic attitude is one of my best contributions to a team. Then this profile painted the long shadow of over-reliance on optimism. Every good quality also has the potential to have a dark side. This profile explained that my overly optimistic attitude can cause me to underestimate the time it takes to complete large projects. It said people who are optimistic like me often have problems accurately estimating realistic time lines needed to complete the project and reach deadlines. Yikes! This thing nailed it. I was impressed that this profile knew me so well. I was almost offended that this profile clearly spelled out a flaw in my behavior, publishing this information like the Sunday newspaper for my new boss to read. Ouch!
Even with the initial sting of this feedback, I am thankful that I took this profile. The portrait painted shows many of my best behaviors, habits and work practices. It also gave me a good insight into the areas of my behavior that regularly challenge me or cause me trouble. With this new picture in mind and the lessons it provides, I have the information I need to reduce the impact those flaws have on my work.
In Roman 7, Paul paints several portraits of what God’s work of sanctification looks like in the life a believer. In his word pictures and description, we find Paul’s personal self-portrait as he describes his own inner struggle against sin. In the process, we learn a great deal about our own relationship to God, His Law, and to sin as we find Paul casting light on the familiar inner struggle we all know. In reading Paul’s personal struggles, we find important lessons about ourselves. Much like one of these personality profiles, in Paul’s self-portrait of his struggles, we gain a better understanding of who we are in Christ. In this portrait, we have the great opportunity to understand God’s work of sanctification in our lives.
- Kap Otten