Genes
Yesterday, I had lunch with a dear friend. Tom was my youth pastor way back in the 1980’s. Tom and his family have recently moved back to the area and this is the first time we have been able to hook up. It was great to talk about how God is using him in his new church, and it was great sharing what God is doing with Teresa and me.
We talked about other men and women who were teens in the youth dept and what they are doing now. Tom shared with me that one of the men is having heart issues. I was surprised because Jon is a year younger than me; however, this heart issue runs in his family. Jon’s dad has had heart problems the entire time I’ve known him. Jon inherited his heart problem through his father’s genes.
This conversation made me think about how we can not choose what we get from our parents. The genes we get are the genes we get (good, bad, or indifferent). Since God is the creator, He decides our make up but no one else has any say.
When God draws us to Himself, He gives us His spiritual genes. As we grow in Him, we discover these genes and start using them to bring Him glory. Paul calls these genes the “Fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-23. As Christ-followers we all have this fruit, but some don’t exercise it. It’s one fruit with multiple properties (But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.). Just as my blue eyes, red hair, and fare skin are gene traits from my mom and my nose, jaw line, and my temperament are gene traits from my dad, the fruit of the Spirit is a gene trait we have from our heavenly Father.
We talked about other men and women who were teens in the youth dept and what they are doing now. Tom shared with me that one of the men is having heart issues. I was surprised because Jon is a year younger than me; however, this heart issue runs in his family. Jon’s dad has had heart problems the entire time I’ve known him. Jon inherited his heart problem through his father’s genes.
This conversation made me think about how we can not choose what we get from our parents. The genes we get are the genes we get (good, bad, or indifferent). Since God is the creator, He decides our make up but no one else has any say.
When God draws us to Himself, He gives us His spiritual genes. As we grow in Him, we discover these genes and start using them to bring Him glory. Paul calls these genes the “Fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-23. As Christ-followers we all have this fruit, but some don’t exercise it. It’s one fruit with multiple properties (But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.). Just as my blue eyes, red hair, and fare skin are gene traits from my mom and my nose, jaw line, and my temperament are gene traits from my dad, the fruit of the Spirit is a gene trait we have from our heavenly Father.
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