People like us do things like this

Seth Godin is an insightful entrepreneur, marketer, author, and speaker. Seth teaches an approach to marketing that's based on psychographics rather than demographics. To explain this term psychographics, he uses the statement "People like us do things like this."

It's a simple sentence that addresses identity (People like us) and culture (do things like this).

This little statement reminds me that when we come to Christ, we're given a new identity and we're brought into a new culture. Our job, then, is to discover who we are in Christ and to become students of a culture defined by Christ.

Let's read the New Testament with this lens and ask Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, James, and Jude to be our guides. Let them tell us who we are. And let them show us what the Kingdom is like. Then, more and more, our words and our works will show others that people like us do things like this.

Scales & Reps

This weekend, my wife and I went to see cellist Amit Peled and his students—The Peabody Cello Gang—perform. We were reminded that great musicians are great because they can perform without concentrating on the fundamentals. And the reason they can play with such freedom is that they practice those fundamentals over and over, all the time.

Also this weekend, I heard that my college football team practiced 600 reps of live tackling during summer camp. The theory goes that practice frees the players from dwelling on the mechanics of tackling so they can focus on the flow of each play. (May it be so!)

It makes me think—where am I most likely to stumble spiritually in the course of regular life? Where is it that I have to hunker down and focus on the mechanics of a Christian walk?

Then, how can I back up and find ways to practice those fundamentals—over and over—so I can live more freely and successfully on the stage, on the field?

Going Native

“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”

— David, in Psalm 27:4 ESV

There are occasions in life when we move into a new culture. Maybe when we enter a profession or change companies, join the military, or change churches. Missionaries experience this acutely.

Everything is different. Maybe a little different; maybe a lot. Language (or jargon), rules, methods, priorities, attitudes toward time, money, orderliness, and hospitality—all different.

Adapting to a new culture comes in four phases:

1. Excitement and adventure

2. Frustration and irritation

3. Gradual adjustment

4. Acceptance. Feeling at home.

When we surrender our life to Christ, we are transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son. The domain of darkness has a culture and Christ's kingdom has a very different culture. How fully will we adapt?

Adapting to a new culture involves observation and study, immersion, imitation, making mistakes, asking for help. It requires effort, determination, persistence, and hope.

But we all know people who never do adapt. They give up somewhere—and cling to their familiar old culture. They never adjust. They never feel quite at home.