Each week we are applying the Enneagram types to characters in the Bible and what we can learn from each of them about us and our relationships. Today is EIGHT: The Challenger or The Leader or Boss. This week’s EIGHT has a big part to play in our remembering our baptism as we do each year on this Sunday in January. Who is it? What makes them an EIGHT? Find out Today and that maybe you are an EIGHT too.
PJ Pondering
We gather together today to remember and reaffirm our baptism. Once a year most United Methodists and others have a Service of Baptismal Renewal like this one.Sometimes we forget how important that moment was in our lives especially if it was long ago. Do you remember what it felt like, the anticipation? the life change, the hope of a new beginning?
When you promised to give your whole life to Christ, not just the parts on the side? When you confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?The time when you said it is time to change.It is time to go a different direction.
PJ Point
Baptism, as the start of our journey to becoming us, leads us in life on the road of discovering and rediscovering who we are created to be and our God-given gifts, then activating those gifts through the Holy Spirit,and understanding how our gifts are interrelated in our relationships with other disciples in the body of Christ, and how important it is to stay true to the heart of our God-given gifts.
PJ Point
And our baptism reveals to us that God wanted to claim us as one of his very own and cleanse us so we could begin a new life.”Baptism points back to the work of God, and forward to the life of faith.”
The people were filled with expectation, and everyone wondered whether John might be the Christ.
Luke 3:15
PJ Point
John was a straightforward, even aggressive, leader, who cared intensely about justice. He was unafraid of standing up to others for the sake of a greater cause. His challenge was to be careful to keep his ambition in check and use his strengths—as he did—for the good of others and not solely for himself.
John replied to them all, “I baptize you with water, but the one who is more powerful than me is coming. I’m not worthy to loosen the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Luke 3:16
PJ Point
John was a Challenger.And that is our Enneagram type for today.Type EIGHT the Leader or the Boss.Sometimes EIGHTs get a bad rap. They might be treated more unfairly than any other type when others are trying to explain them for the first time.
PJ Point
EIGHTs are commonly known as “The Challenger.”They have a deep-seated need to be against. They do tend to be more outwardly aggressive, but more often than not their anger and hostility is directed toward those whom they perceive to be oppressors or bullies or rule breakers. EIGHTs are in the corner of the underdog. When they see injustices of any sort, their anger boils over and the “momma bear” comes out.
PJ Point
When EIGHTs are unhealthy, that’s when they revert to self-preservation and survival mode, looking out for their own needs and protection. They fear betrayal and vulnerability. They try at all costs to avoid appearing weak.
PJ Point
But when EIGHTs are healthy, they realize that vulnerability is a strength, not a weakness. They become more concerned with thesafety and protection of others and will fight to the death to save them. Many people think Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa were healthy EIGHTs.
PJ Point
Most EIGHTs, when they were children, picked up on the message that only the tough and strong survive. If you show any physical or emotional weakness, you’ll get eaten alive. And so, they developed a rock-hard exterior wall, making themselves look and act tougher than they really are.
PJ Point
That’s why EIGHTs make such good social workers, civil rights activists, therapists, lawyers, and humanitarians. Beneath that hardened exterior is a soft heart that feels deeply for the needs of the weak, helpless, vulnerable, and oppressed.But that protective wall can be a real barrier to intimate relationships. EIGHTs have a hard time letting people into their inner circle of trust. They will often do everything within their power to test you and push you. If you stick around through all of it, then you’re in. But the moment they suspect betrayal or abandonment is coming, then you’re out.
PJ Point
You can see EIGHT all over John the Baptist. And it is to this EIGHT that Jesus comes to be baptized in the desert. Baptism is a sacrament, a mysterion which literally means mystery that God continues to help unravel question by question in my life.What I have learned over the years is that God was always there and always will be there for me. John knew that too.That is why he was so boldand a challenger of the religion of his day.
PJ Point
In the Wesleyan tradition, we call this prevenient grace a grace that goes before us and knows us before as we were knitted in our mother’s womb. This is why we baptize infants and children in the United Methodist Church. Because God’s gift of grace is always present in our lives even before we can speak for ourselves.
PJ Point
As adults, baptism can be a moment when we clearly are telling God, “I belong to you. I trust you with my whole life.”Jesus showed by being baptized that he was dedicating his whole life to follow God’s will. A moment when we hear a small voice of God saying as Jesus heard, “I love you. You are my son. You are my daughter. I will love you forever.”
When everyone was being baptized, Jesus also was baptized. While he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit came down on him in bodily form like a dove. And there was a voice from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.”
Luke 3:21-22
PJ Point
EIGHTs are commanding, intense and confrontational. Act now, apologize later is an EIGHT’s motto. They fight for justice and advocate for the powerless. But they also struggle to admit weakness. They can domineer over people. Their greatest fear is vulnerability. And their vice is lust.
PJ Point
Another prime example of EIGHT is Samson. Remember him? Samson’s birth was prophesied by an angel. But Samson would be different as a Nazarite for his entire life. No hair cuts, no alcohol or wine, no contact with dead bodies – you know, normal kid stuff. Exactly what John the Baptist was like.
PJ Point
Samson is the literal embodiment of strength. But he was also too strong for his own good. Did you hear that, EIGHTs? He threw his weight around and strong-armed his way through relationships and his public life, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. There was a lot of collateral damage from his unhealthy anger and aggression. But Samson made the transition from fighting for himself to sacrificing himself in order to protect and deliver his people.
PJ Point
Miriam, the sister of Moses, is another example of an EIGHT.We may give EIGHTs a hard time. We may not understand their attraction conflict, arguments, aggression, and intimidation. But the fact is – EIGHTs are world changers. If we live in a world with a pressing problem, then we don’t want a bunch of Nines and Sevens and Fours working on it. We need our EIGHTs to come in, shake things up, hash out the arguments, and GET. STUFF. DONE.
PJ Final Point
EIGHTs embody the strength of God which says:”The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14)
But they also need to hear this in their fear of being harmed or controlled by others.EIGHTs need to remember God is ultimately in control and that: “…the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” Isaiah 52: 12
Are you an EIGHT? What is your number?
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