Driving with Purpose

Day 31 - Employing Your Experiences

That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.  God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.
Romans 8:21-29 (The Message)

“Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you.”
Aldous Huxley

Rick starts this section by saying that God allowed our experiences to happen for the purpose of molding us. Once again his Calvinist approach to God’s micromanagement comes through. I’d rather talk about God using the experiences of our lives to bring new purpose and direction.

We’re given a list of experiences to consider as we look at how we serve God:

Family Experiences
Educational Experiences
Vocational Experiences
Spiritual Experiences
Ministry Experiences
Painful Experiences
Again, Rick writes about God intentionally allowing us to go through painful experiences to equip us for ministry to others.

I vividly remember sitting by the coffin of my eighteen month old daughter as a ten year old boy from the church struggled to make sense of her death. “Perhaps God has made this happen so you can support other people who are grieving.” In response my wife and I explained that we didn’t have to find a reason for her tragic death. We were sure that God could have found other ways to help us grow in that ministry of supporting the bereaved. But we were sure that God could bring meaning and purpose out of this time.

It’s the difference between ultimate sovereignty and absolute sovereignty. I don’t believe that God says ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to every minute detail of my life or anyone else’s. But I do believe that God says ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to the big picture.

Rick refers to Paul’s honesty about his suffering in Asia Minor as expressed in 2 Corinthians 1: 8-10. If Paul had kept quiet about his doubts and depression, millions of people would have missed out his acknowledgement of pain, suffering and failure as part of life.

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Day 31 - Using Your Personality

You shaped me first inside, then out;
You formed me in my mother’s womb.
Psalm 139:13 (The Message)

Rick Warren introduces the P of SHAPE: Personality, by saying that each of us has a unique set of DNA. There has never been anybody like us. God loves variety.

Rick talks about introverts and extroverts, thinkers and feelers. These categories come from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, developed by Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Myers during World War II, following the theories of Carl Jung as laid out in his work Psychological Types.

The Introvert/Extrovert category looks at how a person orients and receives his/her energy. The Sensing/Intuition category indicates how person perceives or receives data. The Thinking/Feeling category relates to how a person judges or makes rational decisions. The Judging/Perceiving category reveals a preference for linear approaches or subjective options. This last category would link in with Rick’s reference to routine and variety.

Rick Warren says that there is no right or wrong temperament for ministry. He refers to Peter as being ’sanguine’, Paul as ‘choleric’ and Jeremiah as ‘melancholy’. These references are straight from the work of Tim and Beverley LaHaye who popularised the theory of the four temperaments among Evangelicals in the 1960s and on.

Theories relating to the four temperaments have their origins in Greece around 400 BC. It was thought that the bodily fluids yellow bile (choler), black bile (melancholic), phlegm and blood were linked with health and temperament. the take their names from the body fluids.

Tim La Haye designed the LaHaye Temperament Analysis, a tool for self analysis and improvement. Tim has written a number of books on the subject, including Transforming Your Temperament, Spirit-Controlled Temperament, and Understanding the Male Temperament.

Rick refers to the huge number of books and resources that can help people engage in a healthy approach to personality. David Keirsey, for example, has written a large number of resources relating to personality types, character and temperament.

A resource often used by churches in Queensland is the DiSC Profile. DiSC Profile was developed by William Moulton Marston using four dimensions of Dominance, Influencing, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. DiSC tests and assessments are used in hiring and recruiting, diversity training, time management, team building and personal growth. The Biblical Profile is designed especially for Christian settings. See Educating Christians for more details.

Looking around the internet I’ve found a few writers who have seized on this part of the Purpose Driven Life as evidence that Rick Warren has sold out to paganism. In some quarters there is a deep suspicion of anything that’s come out of ancient Greece or modern psychology. Jung, because of his interest in the occult, has been written off by some Christian writers. Clearly it is important not to become obsessed or stereotyped by the personality typologies of anyone, Christian or not.

What’s important here is that people don’t try and copy somebody else’s personal approach to ministry or mission. People who work behind the scenes are not likely to thrive in settings preferred by people who like to work ‘up front’. Rick encourages Christians to ‘work with the grain’ rather than against it. We have the freedom to express our gifts in different ways.

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Day 31 - Abilities

You shaped me first inside, then out;
You formed me in my mother’s womb.
Psalm 139: 13 The Message

In this chapter Rick Warren helps us work through our unique shape, using the A, P and E of SHAPE: Abilities, Personality and Experience.

Abilities
Rick distinguishes between spiritual gifts and other God-given abilities by the fact that our abilities are given at birth. He says that each of hus have dozens, probably hundreds, of untapped, unrecognized, and unused abilities that are lying dormant inside us.

Rick starts with the thousands of abilities inherent in living in a body. The capacity to remember facts. The ability to smell and distinguish odours. The capacity to touch and hold. To taste. To hear.

I took my son for a driving lesson today. At this point he’s just learning. He’s only now developing a skill that has been latent. I’m sure he’ll discover many more abilities over his life. But he’ll need to practice with perserverance.

I’m reminded of a colleague who is considered by all who know him to be gifted musically. Incredibly gifted. But he reminds his friends that all the giftedness in the world would not have taken him to what he is as a performer. It was hours and hours of practice that honed those skills.

Rick says that every ability can be used for God’s glory, drawing on Paul’s encouragement to do whatever we do for the glory of God. Rick points to Biblical examples of artistic ability, architectural ability, administering, baking, boat making, candy making, debating, designing and so on. He says that God has a place in his church where our specialties can shine and we can make a difference. “Whatever you’re good at, you should be doing for your church.”

This is of great encouragement to action-oriented people who sometimes wonder if the church has any connection with their abilities. I’ve noticed that most worship services require two major skills: the capacity to sing in public, and the capacity to sit and listen attentively. Surely there are forms of being church that go far beyond that. I would say that God may well call us to use our abilities in areas where the organised church has no involvement. And so the church can shine and make a difference through our everyday skills.

I appreciate Rick’s encouragement for people to be aware of their assets and liablities. “God doesn’t waste abilities; he matches our calling and our capabilities.”

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