Category: Devotional Blog

People from Perfect Country love to have things right. They are perfectionists, and they love it! Their vehicle is a train on a train track, and they want to stay according to the plan! These people want respect for their feelings.

These people are crazy for systems, strategies, and plans. They are the people that actually read the directions — every time. Plans and stable structure are at the core of who they are — and when plans get changed, they often become depressed because their wonderful plans were messed up; their “core” was unstable. These people are extremely particuluar and they want things done correctly — but they don’t want to control. Unlike the Control Country person, they would get offended if they are accused of being a control freak. They don’t want to control, they just want things to be right!

If you want to discourage these people – don’t let them manage details. Say things critically like, “It doesn’t have to be perfect!” and “Those details don’t matter to anyone. When you do this, you’re criticizing their deepest passions! If you want to discourage them — don’t encourage what they love!

People from Fun Country love to have fun. They are amiable, and they love it! Their vehicle is an airplane, able to go in any direction. These people want approval for what they do.

The name “fun country” implies laziness, but they’re not lazy. They look for the fun in everything they do. Fun Country people love to be around people and they get “charged” while in the presence of other people. They would rather shovel manure with other people than sit behind a desk all day. These people want approval for what they do. This is different from Control Country – who wants appreciation for their accomplishments. Often a Fun Country person will be do things in order to make people like them — or worse — to keep people from disliking them.

If you want to discourage these people – don’t let them ever be a ham. Criticize them with the things they love — “Why do you talk to so many people?” “Can’t you be calmer when you’re on a stage?” Never encourage their open personality and tell them they need to be more reserved. If you want to discourage them — don’t encourage what they love!

People from Control Country love to be in control. They are control freaks, and they love it! Their vehicle is a bulldozer, and they want to get the job done! These people want appreciation for what they do.

These people want to accomplish something, they strive on finishing assignments and working “up a ladder.” They want to achieve and succeed. They won’t get offended if you tell them they are controlling a lot — they love being control freaks! Their attitude is “get ‘er done.” People from Control Country want to achieve so much that they will press forward and if their pressing causes problems — they’ll just clean it up later. These people get it done!

If you want to discourage these people – don’t let them ever take a “front seat” of leadership. Never give them the remote control, never let them choose which restaurant to go to, never allow them to lead you or a group. Afterall, that would be encouraging their control-ness. If you want to discourage them — don’t encourage what they love!

God wires us differently — that’s why such a thing as “personality conflicts” exist. You might have taken a personality test before — but I’d encourage you to complete a FlagPage. The FlagPage Test is not a personality test, but rather its a test that measures what you love! At the most basic level, the FlagPage shows four basic groups.

Hippocrates saw that there are generally four types of personalities (or combinations of them). This week I’m going to talk about each of these personalities with the terminology used in The FlagPage Test, and in relation to what people love. I will be describing these personalities and loves with the “Country” analogy — everyone’s personality is a country. Everyone has a homeland country, and most people also have an “adopted” country as well, which means they have some characteristics of that secondary personality.  This is a great analogy because Americans cannot understand everything about the South African, Australian, or Jamaican culture (although they all speak English) — and we will have a difficult time understanding someone with a different personality.

This difference in “Nationality” in our personalities is why I want to help explain them. If you understand the four countries, you will do better at understanding other people.

For the past several weeks I have had an organic stench coming from my kitchen cabinet. At first I thought I just needed to let the cabinet “air out” so I left the cabinet doors open overnight – but it was still there. I found an open bag of shelled peanuts so I rolled up the bag thinking it might solve the problem. It was still there.

As the days went on the smell got worse and worse, and I couldn’t figure it out. Every time I opened my cabinet I was overcome with this wretched stench. Seriously, it smelled really bad.

Finally I decided to figure it out once and for all — so I started examining everything in my cabinet.
Cans of soup and vegtables? – no.
Crackers? – no.
Peanut Butter?, Rice Cakes?, Ramen Noodles? – no, no, no.
The sack of potatoes way up on the top shelf?

Bingo.

Disgusting does not even begin to describe this sack of rotting potatoes. Slime had been spread through the entire sack — not just any slime. This slime resembled snot – like the kind that explodes from your nose if you have a bad cold and sneeze. As I picked up the sack from the shelf, I heard the slime-snot squishing around in the bag. I nearly threw up right then and there. I put the potatoes in my kitchen garbage… then I emptied that bag into ANOTHER bag and tied it off really good and stuck it in my trash barrel, never to see it again.

That bag of potatoes is how God sees our sin. Repulsive.

I don’t think I’ve ever found a blog post that I thought was so good that I simply linked to it. Until today. Holy Crap — Perry Noble brought it today in his post about how he does NOT want “Nice Christians.” I found myself literally waving my hands and cheering to encourage Perry as I read it. Too bad he couldn’t see me, and luckily nobody else did because I probably looked like an idiot cheering out loud for a blog post. Go read it.

Sometimes when you’re dealing with spiritual things, you can’t define them — they can only be described. Worship, I believe is one of those things. The trinity is another. I’ve heard the trinity described several times in several different ways, but this morning I heard my pastor describe the trinity in a way that I’ve never heard before. I thought it was neat:

We serve one plural God.

What struck me was the irony of “one” and “plural.” God is plural – but not polytheistic. He’s three, but one.

Now that’s unity. We serve a God that is three distinct people, yet is so united that at the same time, He is one. God is united.

Imago Dei. We are made in the image of God. That means we should be an expression of God; in His image. If God is united with Himself in the Trinity, then Christians should be united with each other. This is especially true for the universal Church — the explicit Body of Christ. The Body of Christ should be united as one, as God’s example to us: the Trinity. Where there is disunity, there is no imago dei (image of God).

Hezekiah Walker’s song, “I Need You To Survive” says it best. You can watch the video here. There is no substitute for the communicational power of music and art, so I do encourage you to watch this video in spite of its length. I believe it will touch your heart. Below are the lyrics:

I need you, you need me. We’re all a part of God’s body.
Stand with me, agree with me. We’re all a part of God’s body.
It is His will that every need be supplied. You are important to me, I need you to survive.

I pray for you, You pray for me. I love you, I need you to survive.
I won’t harm you with words from my mouth. I love you, I need you to survive.
It is His will that every need be supplied. You are important to me, I need you to survive.

I Need You To Survive, By Hezekiah Walker