The main guide for this research can be found at A Guide to Spiritual Gifts

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

The Gift of Faith

In comparing secular personality portraits to spiritual gifts, the gift of faith presents a particular difficulty, because faith implies an object to have faith in. Christians know there is a personal God, and that He oversees our destiny, but the unbeliever is left with fate, chance or his own ability as determinants. If, however, we look for these things as the objects of faith, we’ll find a counterpart to faith among the secular personality descriptions: “Of all the types, ISTPs are most likely to pit themselves, or their technique, against chance, odds, or fate[1].”

The gift of faith may be seen as “the ability to envision what God wants to accomplish...[2]”; and the person with this gift is often described as a “man of vision[3].” Descriptions of the ISTP, however, do not agree: “...the plan is not to have a plan, just be ready for anything, do what needs to be done, and expect that things will work out for the best as a result[4].”

The ISTP style may be more appropriate for the gift of faith than most of the gift descriptions would indicate. Consider the balance of vision and faith in our lives. God often gives us a vision of the future, a vision being a sense of his plan for us. This vision gives us a sense of comfort knowing that He is directing our lives. It is when God withholds His plan for us that faith is required. When we do not know where God is taking us and do not have the comfort of His vision it is much more difficult to have faith that He is guiding us. It takes much more faith and boldness to proceed without a plan, operating only on the principles in His Word; and it is this kind of boldness that the ISTP is gifted with: “ISTPs are often fearless, risking themselves more than other types[5].” Kenneth Kinghorn’s description of the gift of faith agrees more with the ISTP style: “The gift of faith takes hold of biblical principles, and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit applies them to the current situation[6].”

ISTPs may see their prayers answered more often than other types because they do not often pray for unrealistic results. That is not the same as saying they do not expect much from God, but where they expect God to move things to is based on an accurate view of the present. The ISTP model of faith, then, is not the most visionary gift but the most realistic gift.

Summary: For each of the sixteen personality types there is a theme or set of related themes that run through the various descriptions of that type. For the ISTP the primary theme is of instrumentation or crafting—anything to do with the skillful use of tools. It is not clear how this theme would relate to faith (or almost any other gift except service, and service has a clear match with another type). Perhaps someone with another gift could see a connection between faith and craftsmanship, but the themes of boldness in action and staying calm under pressure make the ISTP a fairly good match for the gift of faith.

References

[1] David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates, Please Understand Me (Del Mar: Prometheus Nemesis, 1978), 200.

[2] Rick Yohn, Discover Your Spiritual Gift and Use It (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1974), 48.

[3] William McRae, Dynamics of Spiritual Gifts (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1976), 66.

[4] Otto Kroeger and Janet M. Thuesen, Type Talk (New York: Broadman Press, 1988), 232.

[5] Keirsey and Bates, 200.

[6] Kenneth C. Kinghorn, Gifts of the Spirit (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1976), 66.

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