A Texas Identity
Dan Syrek is the nation’s leading researcher on litter. He has worked with 16 states on anti-litter initiatives. He often begins his projects by selecting random stretches of road – from interstates to farm roads – and walking the streets personally with a clicker in hand, manually counting the litter. In the 1980, Syrek and his Sacramento-based organization were hired by the State of Texas. At the time, Texas had a serious litter problem… each year, the state was spending $25 million per year on cleanup, and the costs were rising 15% a year. The state's attempts to encourage better behavior – such as “Please don’t Drop Litter” signs and roadside trash cans marked “Pitch In” – weren’t working. Neither were the fines, punishments, and penalties. One of their campaigns centered on a cuddly cartoon owl who says, “Give a Hoot – Don’t Pollute”. It wasn’t working and the state knew that they needed a new strategy.
Research revealed that the most significant contributors to the litter problem were 18-35-year-old males who enjoyed country music and drove pickup trucks. Good ‘ole Texas boys. This demographic had nothing to gain by following the rules, and no obvious rewards for doing so. As they thought through and wrestled with the anti-littering issues, Texas adopted a new slogan for its anti-litter campaign – “Don’t Mess with Texas.”
For the next year or so, the state ran a variety of ads, featuring tough sports stars, Texas icons, and celebrities aggressively cleaning up the state, and then proclaiming, “Don’t Mess with Texas!” The message of the campaign was that Texans don’t litter. It's not who they are... we're big, we're brave, we're tidy... and we do' litter! The campaign was an instant success. Within a few months of the launch, an astonishing 73% of Texans could recall the message and identify its antilitter message. Within a year, litter had declined 29%! During the first five years of the campaign, roadside litter had decreased by 72%, and the number of cans on the roadside had dropped by 81%. By 1988, Syrek had found that Texas had half as much trash on the road as other states!
The reason why this campaign was so successful? It is because this slogan became, for Texans, an identity! The rules were posted, people were aware of their responsibilities, but it wasn’t until their identities were shaped that real change occurred. It wasn’t the rules or the call to be responsible that changed Texas; it was when Texans realized their identity that they stopped dropping litter.
This same principle applies to us as Christians. We know the rules, we are aware of our responsibilities… but real change does not happen as a believer until we realize that our identity has been changed, or more accurately, our identity has been restored!
As Paul says to the people in Ephesus (Eph 2:8-9), following the rules isn’t going to change you. It won't make much of a difference at all. What will change you, and change our circumstances, is when we understand our identity in Christ. Change does not happen when we follow or don’t follow the rules; it occurs when we realize what God says about who we are.
Let me take this metaphor a step further. As Texas had a trash problem… so we human beings have a trash problem! The things that pollute and harm us are not just empty soda bottles and discarded plastic bags. It is a trash of much greater proportion… the Bible calls it sin. Scripture tells us that all of us have ‘trash’ and have fallen short of the perfect environment that God calls us to live in.
However, cleaning up our trash is not accomplished by following some prescribed rules or laws…. It is done by changing, understanding, and restoring the identity that God has given to us.
“Don’t mess with Texas” is a slogan that can be seen on bumper stickers, pins, and pens. You see it on billboards, commercials, and T Shirts to remind people of their identity. We need similar slogans, written not on our T-shirts, but on our hearts if we are going to fully understand what it means to be and live as God’s masterpieces.
What are the slogans that we would need to put on T-shirts if our identity were to be shaped to the point that we could understand and live, with great humility, as masterpieces of God?
Research revealed that the most significant contributors to the litter problem were 18-35-year-old males who enjoyed country music and drove pickup trucks. Good ‘ole Texas boys. This demographic had nothing to gain by following the rules, and no obvious rewards for doing so. As they thought through and wrestled with the anti-littering issues, Texas adopted a new slogan for its anti-litter campaign – “Don’t Mess with Texas.”
For the next year or so, the state ran a variety of ads, featuring tough sports stars, Texas icons, and celebrities aggressively cleaning up the state, and then proclaiming, “Don’t Mess with Texas!” The message of the campaign was that Texans don’t litter. It's not who they are... we're big, we're brave, we're tidy... and we do' litter! The campaign was an instant success. Within a few months of the launch, an astonishing 73% of Texans could recall the message and identify its antilitter message. Within a year, litter had declined 29%! During the first five years of the campaign, roadside litter had decreased by 72%, and the number of cans on the roadside had dropped by 81%. By 1988, Syrek had found that Texas had half as much trash on the road as other states!
The reason why this campaign was so successful? It is because this slogan became, for Texans, an identity! The rules were posted, people were aware of their responsibilities, but it wasn’t until their identities were shaped that real change occurred. It wasn’t the rules or the call to be responsible that changed Texas; it was when Texans realized their identity that they stopped dropping litter.
This same principle applies to us as Christians. We know the rules, we are aware of our responsibilities… but real change does not happen as a believer until we realize that our identity has been changed, or more accurately, our identity has been restored!
As Paul says to the people in Ephesus (Eph 2:8-9), following the rules isn’t going to change you. It won't make much of a difference at all. What will change you, and change our circumstances, is when we understand our identity in Christ. Change does not happen when we follow or don’t follow the rules; it occurs when we realize what God says about who we are.
Let me take this metaphor a step further. As Texas had a trash problem… so we human beings have a trash problem! The things that pollute and harm us are not just empty soda bottles and discarded plastic bags. It is a trash of much greater proportion… the Bible calls it sin. Scripture tells us that all of us have ‘trash’ and have fallen short of the perfect environment that God calls us to live in.
However, cleaning up our trash is not accomplished by following some prescribed rules or laws…. It is done by changing, understanding, and restoring the identity that God has given to us.
“Don’t mess with Texas” is a slogan that can be seen on bumper stickers, pins, and pens. You see it on billboards, commercials, and T Shirts to remind people of their identity. We need similar slogans, written not on our T-shirts, but on our hearts if we are going to fully understand what it means to be and live as God’s masterpieces.
What are the slogans that we would need to put on T-shirts if our identity were to be shaped to the point that we could understand and live, with great humility, as masterpieces of God?
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