“This is just who I am.” These six words summarize one of the biggest obstacles to discipleship facing the church in our contemporary era—what philosopher Charles Taylor dubs “The Age of Authenticity.” This mentality has infused “identity” with such an immutable, near sacred aura that any suggestion that “who we are” needs to change, and keep changing—discipleship 101—is construed as insensitive or even bigoted. Furthermore, when one’s identity is enshrined and sacralized—via expressive individualism, identity politics, or the taxonomies of personality tests—it becomes harder to own sin, repent, and live in terms of putting off the old and putting on the new self (Eph. 4:22–24).

In the article featured below, Christa Threlfall examines these dynamics as manifested in the popularity of personality tests. Even as she rightly acknowledges the value of these tests, she asks questions about them I’ve had myself: “If being with others drains you mentally and emotionally, will you reject the ‘one another’ requirements of Scripture? Are we all called to evidence the fruit of the Spirit? Or are you only required to evidence the fruits of patience, peace, and joy if your Enneagram number reveals a propensity toward them?”

Read the article and consider both the beauty and diversity of personality and the glory of Spirit-fueled change. May we as Christ-followers always be more compelled by who we are being made into, by the power of God, than who we are now.