What's the Difference Between Your Personality and Your Temperament?

Tired of personality quizzes that barely scratch the surface? Discover the difference of temperament—and why living your God-given design is the key to true peace, identity, and purpose.

Without knowledge of self, there is no knowledge of God.” John Calvin

You’ve probably taken a personality test or two—Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, DISC, maybe even a fun “Which TV character are you?” quiz. They’re helpful tools. I use them myself in church ministry and even just for fun. But when it comes to true identity and lasting transformation, they only scratch the surface.

What I want to introduce to you today goes deeper. Two layers deeper, actually.

Personality Is a Mask We Wear

Think of your personality as the face you choose to show the world. It’s how you present yourself, often shaped by your circumstances, wounds, relationships, or even just survival. It’s what feels “normal” to you, but it’s not necessarily who you truly are. Personality is flexible and often changes over time—especially in response to pain, praise, or performance.

Character Is Learned Behavior

Character is built. It’s shaped by your environment, your upbringing, and the choices you make. For example, you may grow up in a home where honesty is deeply valued, and over time, become someone who would never consider stealing—even if your inner wiring leans toward taking risks. That’s character in action.

The majority of personality tests and personal growth social media accounts address these two areas: how you show up and how you behave. Again, these are not bad. But they are not the full picture.

Temperament: The God-Designed Core of Who You Are

Beneath personality and character is something more foundational—your temperament. This is your innate, soul-level design, given by God before you were even born (Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5). It includes the way your mind processes information, the desires of your will, and the emotional needs wired into your heart. It’s the part of you meant to reflect the image of God in a deeply personal and unique way.

Temperament doesn’t change with time or trauma. But it often gets buried. Life piles on expectations, wounds, cultural noise, and coping mechanisms. We start to live out of the mask (personality) or the shoulds (character) instead of the truth of who we were made to be.

Why This Matters for Christians

If you're feeling disconnected, anxious, or stuck in cycles that don’t make sense—even though you're doing “all the right things”—there’s a good chance you’re out of alignment with your God-given temperament. I’ve been there. You might be trying to please people, hold it all together, or live up to some spiritual or cultural ideal instead of resting in who God actually made you to be.

Getting in touch with your temperament isn’t about self-indulgence—it’s about self-awareness that leads to freedom. When you understand your original design, you can stop striving to be someone you're not. You can finally breathe, parent from peace, communicate with clarity, and grow in ways that are life-giving and sustainable.

And maybe most importantly, you’ll begin to believe that who you are, at your core, is good. Because God called it good when He made you.

This Isn’t Just Another Quiz

Let’s be honest: the internet is full of feel-good self-help resources that never really help. The work I do at Hope Builders isn’t that. It’s not fluff. It’s not hype. And it’s not a one-size-fits-all checklist. Our Temperament Discovery Process goes below the surface to help you see what’s been buried—and bring it back to life through grace, wisdom, and practical tools.

If you’re ready to stop guessing at who you are and start living in the peace and purpose God has for you, I’d love to help you take that first step.

Let’s uncover the real you—the one God designed from the very beginning.