Is It Me?

Colossians 3:4(ESV): When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

I’ve been reading about the Enneagram lately. If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s one of many resources to help a person discover their personality typing, similarly to the Myers-Briggs. One of the key differences of the Enneagram is that it isn’t purely a psychological metric but is also used for spiritual growth and discernment as well. The goal is to help a person discover their motivations, why they do what they do, and what their temptations are as a result.

It reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from Seinfeld. Jerry has just come home with an expensive suede jacket. Kramer bursts into his apartment, as you’d expect, to find Jerry modeling the new coat in his PJ’s. Kramer notices the new jacket immediately, and comments on its beauty. “Is it me?” Jerry asks. “That’s definitely you!” Kramer responds. “Are you sure?” Jerry asks again.

“That’s more you than you’ve ever been.” Kramer says. And then he sees the pink lining of the jacket, striped like the uniform of a barbershop quartet.

That line has always stuck out to me, though. That’s more you than you’ve ever been.

Interestingly, the Enneagram would posit that there is a point in our early adulthood (think early-20’s) where we are our purest self, personality wise. We are old enough to have developed a unique way of thinking and responding to the world, but not so old as to have our behaviors and responses molded, shaped, and in some cases confused by life experience. There is a fundamental, core way of seeing the world that is at its truest during that time period. We are, in that sense, “more us than we have ever been.”

But Biblically speaking, that’s not true at all. According to what we’re learning in Romans, we’re still waiting for the day when we become fully who God intended us to be. We see the first fruits of it happening now but won’t see the full impact until Christ appears again.

2019 is a good year to do some things differently. It seems like as good a year as any to make some changes; get fit (if we want), discover how we are really wired; so that we can make a difference in the world. Don’t lose heart when you discover that sometimes it’s difficult, and sometimes you can’t figure out who God has truly created you to be. There will be a day when you are more you than you have ever been, on the day when Christ returns in glory.