3g Service and 31 personalities...Touching on the 31 Personalities

Before we touch on our third and final "G," I'd like to insert a section that points out our responses to different personalities...

• This past Spring Break my family and I spent some time at the Gulf Shores. One night we went out for some ice cream. This one place we went to had several different flavors of ice cream in rows of buckets...similar to that of Baskin Robins’ 31 Flavors. My wife pointed out that they had a glazed donut that they would stuff ice cream into. There were a couple different flavors that caught my eye and so I asked how many scoops I could have in my donut. When I found out that it was two...I was set because I couldn’t decide between the two, so I got both. None of the others interested me at all.
• Within our sphere of influence we encounter multiple types of personalities. Maybe there are some in the list below that you regularly encounter (this is not an exhaustive list by any means…be thinking of the opposite of each as well as you read through them)… 
  • Loveable; Optimistic; Humble; Pleasant; Encouraging; Courageous; Honest; Respectful; Truthful; Hard Working; Selfless; Thoughtful; Funny; Outgoing; Easy-going; Forgivable. Denominational buckets…Only Baptists, Methodist, Presbyterian, Non-denominational, etc.  
    • Be thinking...Which personalities am I drawn to most? Are there some that I’m avoiding that I shouldn’t be? Should I try to make more attempts to love the unlovable?  
    • What scoop of ice cream / personality have you never entertained allowing into your donut?  
    • Which other denominations have you marked and avoided? Why? If you're firm in your faith, then what do you have to worry about? Can't you still choose to love them as God does? What’s wrong with taking a scoop of them every now and then?  
    • What about the harsh employer? It's easy to love those who are gente towards us, but 1 Peter 2:18 encourages us to submit to the harsh and gentle buckets as a testimony to each personality. Will you choose to submit to harsh personalities? Will you choose a scoop of the harsh even when your flesh might not want to?  
• Remember…God never shows favortism. He loves all, gives to all, is gentle do all, and died for all.  
• So how can I be a giver and a gentler, especially towards those I've kept my donut at a distance from?  How can I get to the point of requesting a scoop from buckets my pallet would typically avoid? This leads us into our third and final “G," which we'll get to next time!