What's in our DNA?

First – a short biology lesson.

DNA – we all have it. 46 chromosomes (in 23 pairs) that define what we look like, how our body’s processes work, and how the chemicals our body needs to produce to keep us alive are made and used in the right places in our body at the right time. Other than our red blood cells, this code is found in every cell of our body. 

All of us (other than identical twins) have a unique set of DNA codes. It explains our differences at a biological level and defines our uniqueness. I mentioned identical twins – I’ve taught many pairs and worked alongside a few as well – and I have to say that appearance similarities (which is how we first register their “identical-ness”) is only skin deep. One of my closest colleagues is an identical twin – and he and his brother are quite different people.

This is because we get a DNA code from our parents – 50% from mum, 50% from dad – and then there is the experience of life. God’s incredible creation of our genetic code interfaces with the experiences we have by being “in the world” – since the time of our conception – and it creates our character. Our identity – as we feel it and as others see it – is a combination of both.

A personal example (1).

In inheriting DNA from each of my parents, I look like a combination of both. The men back through the generations of my mum’s family lost a lot of their head hair – that’s where I got it from! And, yet, there are facial features and expressions seen in photos of me that match my dad’s. 

Both my parents themselves inherited DNA that included coding for autoimmune disease – in DNA terms, that sharply increases my chances of seeing expressions of that code in my health profile. As I have previously shared, I suffer from a form of rheumatoid arthritis (first diagnosed 31 years ago). What I share today is that because of amazing medical advances, I can operate normally with only a small amount of pain in my hands and feet. Without the medication (the first 20 years after the diagnosis), walking gets increasingly difficult, and I even struggle to open the lids of even the easiest of bottles.

The boiling of a frog.

The boiling of a frog is an apologue describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of sinister threats that arise gradually rather than suddenly.

A personal example (2).

The result of years of untreated pain, combined with my training in my teenage years as an elite sports player, is that I have learned to compartmentalise the pain I feel – essentially to ignore it – because of the job I have, the people I love, and the things that I believe God is calling me to do. I have trusted a few with the knowledge of the extent of this but I want to be clear – this compartmentalisation is not the slightest bit heroic, it’s a learned habit for me. Unfortunately, I inadvertently became a “frog being slowly boiled”. Since Christmas, I had slowly being getting more unwell, but was not noticing it.

The result of ignoring my health symptoms nearly cost me my wellbeing a month ago. I was admitted to hospital on the day after Palm Sunday with sepsis (an extreme form of blood poisoning) and extreme dehydration. I was hours from being in a coma – my hospital admission was less than 24 hours after I had “pushed through” and preached for 40 minutes at church. All because I unwisely ignored the signs and just “got on with it”. A second trip to hospital in the holidays for a small procedure to fix the root cause for why my blood had become septic and that scenario will not play out again for me, ever. I am now very well, back at school at full pace and I can report that no permanent damage was done. By a miracle of God’s goodness. Praise Him.

Habits and habituation.

Habits are formed through a process known as "habituation." This is the process by which a behaviour becomes automatic through repetition. When we repeat a behaviour repeatedly, the brain begins to associate it with a specific context or situation. Some, like my compartmentalisation, take years to develop and refine. To be clear – compartmentalising is not part of my DNA, it’s my learned experience. It’s been a coping mechanism and it has helped me. Often, it has helped me help others. It has given me the capacity to get through the tasks of the jobs I’ve had and the ministry commitments I’ve made to see good Kingdom work grow.

But is it a Godly habit? Inherently, I do not believe that it is right or wrong, but I know that how I utilise this strategy in my life may or may not be to God’s glory. (I even wrote a newsletter when I was in hospital the first time; I wrote a second newsletter when I was recovering after my operation. I think about this now, and while I believe there were things to say and a time to say it, and I do hope that they were helpful for our community to have, that was definitely another symptom of my ability to compartmentalise.)

I have had a big scare, and I now have to put this habit at God’s feet and submit myself more to His teaching as to what He wants me to do with this approach I’ve used for so many years. That’s part of the journey of following Jesus – having a moment when we realise we have much more to learn, and responding in obedience and faith.

If we are honest, there are some habits we have taken on that will never be to God’s glory.  There may be explanations for why we do these things, lived experiences which brought them to the fore, but they are not good. Being mean spirited, judgemental, hard-hearted, and gossipy are a few that spring to mind. Being brave and doing a personal audit of these kinds of behaviours, asking God to help us out of them, can be a genuine growth moment for a believer.

There are some habits that are clearly worth forming, through repeated practice so that our brains start to associate them to the contexts where they are best applied. As an example, Paul wrote to the church in Galatia (5:22-23):

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

These habits and our “DNA”.

These habits (the fruit of the Spirit) take years to form; but they are a call on our lives.  They are worthy of seeking, worthy of our efforts in order that they give testimony to obedience to God’s call. 

As a community of Jesus followers, inheriting from our founders a “DNA” (a coding for how we will appear and the things that make us engage well as a school community), we should encourage one another to adopt these habits more completely.

A (DCC) story of Godly habits.

Be very encouraged – our Year 11s had their formal last week. A time of celebration together, a time to enjoy friendship. One of the security guards at the event (covered in all kinds of body art, strong as an ox and very intimidating simply by his presence – arguably a good way for a security guard to present, given the nature of their work) shared with a DCC staff member that he had been a student at another Melbourne CEN school. He went on to share that he noticed a significant difference in the way our students conducted themselves to what he was used to over his years of providing security at school formals. 

Specifically, he said it was obvious that there was something different about the habits of our students. He made mention of many of the traits in the scripture above. That was a witness to him (and I suspect others on his team), that was a moment of a community bringing glory to God through what it did together. Our senior students living out the fruit of the spirit publicly because of habits being formed in them – habits continually refined by the work of the Spirit in their lives.

May this be how we are known.

Shalom.