LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

People are fascinated with DNA. One hundred two million people have submitted their DNA to a company to try and discover their ethnic background and attempt to find people to whom they are related. We all seem to want to know who we really are.

The Bible speaks about a spiritual DNA that makes all those who are believers in Jesus Christ brothers and sisters. It is the life of Jesus Christ that has been born in us. The Apostle John says, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him.” (1 John 3:9) When sinners come to Jesus Christ for salvation, they are born again by the power of the Holy Spirit.  In an act of re-conception, God’s seed, or spiritual DNA, becomes the genetic code of our lives. Just as a young boy grows up to physically, emotionally, and psychologically resemble his father because the father’s seed, or DNA, is in him, so we as children of God the Father have His seed in us so that we will resemble Him.

Colossians 3:12-14 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Colossians 3:12 – 4:6 defines for us the qualities of a born again believer. The Apostle Paul uses the metaphor of clothing to show us what our appearance should be when we have the life of Christ in us. Clothing is what people usually see first about us. Unfortunately, in today’s immoral society, we tend to notice the lack of clothing. We see far too much skin. But that’s also true of the average Christian: rather than being covered with the clothing of God’s choosing we are showing far too much of the flesh. When the world sees us, it should see the very nature and character of God because His seed is in us and is generating a new life.

The clothing that people should notice on us as children of God consists of the following items:

1. Compassion – the ability to understand and relate to the hurts and needs of another person.
2. Kindness – to employ oneself in the actions of meeting the needs of another person.
3. Humility – to have a deep sense of one’s moral lowliness; to take no pride in one’s own abilities, but rather to give all the credit and honor to God for one’s life and accomplishments.
4. Gentleness – to keep all power under the control of the Holy Spirit and use all abilities, whether personal or spiritual, for God’s purpose only.
5. Patience – to persevere in God’s purpose no matter what the obstacles or objections.

Please take some quality time today to reflect on each of these characteristics of God that have been given to us in our spiritual DNA. Discover their seeds in your heart. Water them with the Word of God by looking at other references to them in the Bible.  Then let each characteristic bear fruit in your life by putting them on. Let them become a part of your normal routine of relationships and responsibilities. After all, you were born again to look that way.

Pastor John