For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:12 ESV
I was reading a book on personality the other day. I, like many of us, enjoy reading books that shed valuable insight into our makeup, showing how we are wired to do the things we do and why we do them. I tend to be the hard charging, analytical type that prioritizes getting things done on a schedule! My personality, without exception, tends to be described as someone who is focused, who values getting things done, and analytical enough to spot a problem and start solving it. What a great personality type to have! My husband, on the other hand, tends to value fun. Sure he’s willing to go over to someone’s house and help with a difficult project, but let’s also bring hot dogs so we can have a cookout afterwards! We were discussing our personality types and I read the description of his, thinking all the while about how much these fun-loving types really need to buckle down and worry less about having fun so they can accomplish something with their lives when a big smile breaks across his face and he says, “Yes, I’m the fun type, that’s the best!” I thought my personality type was the best.
Not only did I think my personality type was best (even though yes, yes, all personalities are needed and none are better than the others), but I had been sure that people with other personality types wished they could be more driven and as leveled headed as my type. The fact that someone considered a fun-loving personality type as the best had never occurred to me—seriously, why does the world need fun? Fun never solved anything.
This conversation made me stop and think about all the times when my husband made us prioritize fun. Well, a fun life has been the result! If it was up to my husband, we would have had a lot more fun in our married life—we also would have never completed one house project and the laundry would be always overflowing! However, if we listened to me and never prioritized fun we would have an immaculate house and yard and be miserable from working ourselves too hard. We need both to balance each other out.
This brings to mind I Corinthians, Chapter 12. Paul is talking about how each member of the church is like a part of the body. We each have our unique job to do, and our specific personality traits help us deliver those results. All of us are needed to use our God-given talents to make up one whole, functioning body known as the church. We need those hard-charging detailed business types to keep the church on budget; we need the people who just want to have fun to plan the next church outreach event. We need intuitive helpers who are able to connect well with people to discover how the church can help in our community—and not one of these types is more important than the other.
My personality type might be great for running an event, organizing the details and people, and getting cleanup done afterwards, but it doesn’t see the need first. Many times we are able to see other characteristics when they are things we want to cultivate in ourselves, but what about when they are traits we don’t value as much? Just because we may not value certain traits doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t valuable. So the next time you’re getting irritated by someone with a different skill set than you, let’s take a breath and remember that God made us all different for a reason, and then see how we can be stronger when we blend all of our strengths together.