Down To Your DNA

All of creation emanates God’s Glory. His love, intelligent design, creativity, wise order, goodness, and generosity are evident to the heart that wants to see. At the pinnacle of it all is Mankind, males and females made in God's own image. Each one of us has been uniquely designed with much love, thoughtfulness, and intentionality, down to our DNA.

You Are Uniquely Created

You truly are wonderfully, intricately, and uniquely woven. Get this. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a minuscule cell upon which every living thing on earth depends. Your DNA carries enormous amounts of complex information (genotype). If we were to stretch it, a DNA molecule would reach the sun and back — about 100 times. But God so tightly (and elegantly I might add) coiled it, that it is invisible to the naked eye. Your genotype is translated into your individual physical traits (phenotype) through very precise, intricate, orderly, and complex processes. Your DNA is also extremely durable and can repair itself. It can stay intact for 100,000 years under the correct conditions (a). Unlike other creatures spoken into existence, God personally made you and I to reflect his image (b). I wonder how God will redesign our glorified DNAs to last for eternity and perfectly reflect the image of Christ.

You, an image bearer of God, have a unique set of genetic instructions that make everything about you: your gender, bone structure, hair texture, eye color, fingerprint, predispositions, food preferences, personality, height, weight, etc. Some (not all) of these traits are of course influenced by environmental factors and can change over time (like your weight) but even that is within God’s specific instructions. The process from genotype to phenotype is so meticulously organized that if something goes wrong and the DNA fails to repair itself, the consequences can be devastating (e.g. genetic mutation) (a). We know that the introduction of sin in the world led to spiritual death. I wonder how it affected even our DNA, so that diseases and physical death, passed down to the next generations, ensued.

The Paradox

Why am I telling you this? Is it to prop up your ego? Absolutely not. I want you to understand the unique role you play in glorifying God on earth. True, there is a fine line between worshiping the creator and worshiping creation. Being ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ is primarily a statement about the awesomeness of our creator. When admiring a stunning painting or a complex piece of engineering, the praise goes to the artist or engineer, not to the creation. But it is equally foolish not to acknowledge our value in the sight of God (c) and the work of genius that humans are because of some false sense of humility.

At the same time, God tells us that we fall short of his glory, and within us lies all manners of evil. Jesus calls us to deny ourselves and fully trust in him alone (d). In the words of John Stott: “How can we resolve this biblical paradox? How is it possible to value ourselves and to deny ourselves simultaneously?”. I agree with him that “the self we are to deny, disown and crucify is our fallen self, everything in us that is incompatible with Jesus Christ… The self we are to affirm and value is our created self, everything within us that is compatible with Jesus Christ. ..We must be fearless in affirming all that we are by creation, redemption, and calling, and ruthless in disowning all that we are by the Fall” (e). This is a very balanced mindset, whether you tend towards self-worship or self-loathing because neither honors God. We can only do this by Faith in Jesus through the renewing power of the Gospel.

You Uniquely Glorify God

You are uniquely created, redeemed, and called. Paul said that God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God” (f). God not only intricately designed who you are at the genetic level, but he also placed you purposefully in this specific time of history, nation, environment, etc. to do something unique through you. Stop comparing yourself to others. Use all your gifts, resources, personality traits, and even your weaknesses to bring Glory to Christ. Don’t hold back. Pour yourself out as a drink offering to Him. Don’t rob the world and the body of Christ of it.

I genuinely praise God for each of you and I can’t wait to hear one day (if not now, in heaven) how God uniquely used you for the advancement of the Gospel of Christ.

NOTES & REFERENCES

All scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV), unless otherwise noted.

(a) Genetics For Dummies by Tara Rodden Robinson. Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. Copyright © 2005.

(b) Genesis 1:26-27: Then God said, “‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’. …So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”. John 1:1-3: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

(c) Matthew 10:29-31: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. See also Matthew 6:26; 12:12.

(d) Matthew 7:11: If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Romans 3:23-25: For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

(e) The Cross of Christ by John R. W. Stott, p 277-278. Published by InterVarsity Press. Centennial edition 2021.

(f) Acts 17:24-28: The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth … made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.