Divine DNA: I Am A Child Of God

You’ve got God’s DNA, which makes you anything but unimportant. Your life is not meaningless and insignificant. You are not without a great purpose in this world. You are connected to an eternal story that is much bigger, far more important than you realize. You have a royal past and a prophetic future, which means you can, and should, live powerfully in the present. Your name is recorded in the most valuable genealogy of all—God’s! Yes, you are Abba’s child. So go out today and live like it!

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Chronicles 1:1-4

Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah. The sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Why should you take the time to read 1 Chronicles 1? Or for that matter, why should you bother with any of the genealogies and lists that appear in several places throughout scripture? After all, there is about as much devotional value in them as you would find in reading from the phone book.

Here is the simple answer—and it is a compelling one: Because it was God who included this chapter, and all the other genealogies, in his book, the Bible. And given that God is wiser than we are, he must have had a great reason for what we are tempted to see as endless, mind-numbing lists of ancient names, most of whom are not familiar to us. God wanted those names recorded in his eternal record book for a reason, and that ought to be good enough for us.

Given that, then how can we read them in a way that offers at least a little bit of inspiration? I will offer three things to keep in mind as you, in an act of faith and worship, slow down to read each name as it appears in your devotional reading—including today’s, which you now may want to go back and re-read the right way.

First, this connects you to the original readers. So put yourself in their sandals. These names represented their ancestors, and each name told a story that made up a chapter in the fabric of the biographical account of their lives. Each chapter revealed who they were, how they got to where they were, what their God-ordained rights and privileges were, and why they were so important to God. Just like you are most likely interested in your family history, in a sense, this chapter is your family history as well, since you, like me, are a literal descendant of Adam and a spiritual descendant of Abraham. This connects you to history.

Second, since that is true, this connects you to something bigger than yourself. Your current existence is a part of a grander historical scheme. You are a part of God’s story—and it is a big one. One of the curses of our age is a sense of meaninglessness and purposelessness. That is why, at least in part, depression, dysfunction, debauchery, and despair are so rampant in our world today. People are not connected to anything bigger than what they self-perceive as their own measly, meaningless life. They have no meaningful past and no purposeful future. But when you take the time to read the genealogies in scripture, you are reminded of a vital connection to an amazing, excited, meaningful drama that is still being played out.

Third, and most importantly, this connects you to God. When you trace the names back to the progenitor of the human race, you connect to Adam. And Adam’s father, we are told in another genealogy, one found in Luke 3, was none other than God himself:

Jesus was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph… the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. (Luke 3:23,38)

The Bible calls Adam the son of God, and you are the son or daughter of Adam. You can trace your line back to the original, which connects you to the Great Original, Almighty God. Yes, that is pretty exciting news. Not only spiritually, but in every dimension of reality, you are connected directly to God. You have the DNA of Almighty God. Do you realize how amazing—and important—that is?

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)

That is what you are—a child of God—which makes you anything but unimportant. Your life is not meaningless and insignificant. You are not without a great purpose in this world. You are connected to a story that is much bigger, far more important, and thoroughly eternal. You have a royal past and a prophetic future, which means you can, and should, live powerfully in the present.

Your name is recorded in the most valuable genealogy of all—God’s! Yes, you are a child of God. So go out today and live like it!