Have you ever done something or said something that almost immediately, or later, you wonder why on earth you did what you did or said what you said? Like the behavior was an automatic response? Like your brain was on autopilot without an abort button?
Romans 7:15 tells us, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
Becoming aware of our behavior patterns, the ones that make us cringe if we are being honest, as well as why we behave in those patterns, is the beginning of transformation and gives us a glimpse of the fully redeemed state we will ultimately have in heaven. The way God created us to truly be to bear his image to the world.
While the enneagram gets designated as a “personality” system that’s not exactly what it is. Instead, it is nine ways of seeing, interacting, and responding to the world and those in our lives. Think of it as different photo filters. Some filters make the photo appear with a greenish tint or a pinkish tint. We all see the world through a different filter.
Nor does the enneagram put us in a box. Instead, it helps us realize, and escape from, if we put in the work, the box our “personality” trapped us in earlier than we are able to remember.
You are more than just a number, though. It is my hope that in learning about your enneagram number, your spiritual giftings and talents, and growing spiritually in those, that you will realize you are more than just a number. That you were created for a purpose.
I do not think or believe we can become who we were truly created to be without knowing in the deepest part of our soul and spirit that we are beloved by God our creator. We can not move past the mask of personality we learned to wear even as a very young child without the blood of Jesus. And we can’t grow in our giftings and into our truest self, bearing the image of God to those around us, without the Holy Spirit.
The enneagram is not the end all be all of personality typing systems or personal growth. It does, however, offer us a great deal of wisdom if we allow it and shows us a path to our healthier selves.
The wisdom of the Enneagram is an amazing tool the Holy Spirit can use to help us learn more about the motivations and fears that cause those behavior patterns. The Enneagram is not the “fun” personality typing system. It forces us to confront our junk and take a hard look at our shadow side. That part of us we would rather just ignore. The part that we excuse by saying it’s “just how I’m wired.” But in confronting it, naming it, and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us beyond it, we can have the abundant life Christ offers us.