Translating Your PastSample

What’s in your DNA?

When we visit a new doctor, we’re asked to fill out a medical history. The doctor is looking for patterns of diseases like cancer, heart disease, and a host of other health conditions we may have inherited from our parents and grandparents. While some of us may come from a line of hearty folk who lived long lives before passing away peacefully in their sleep, many of us carry in our DNA a propensity for developing certain diseases, or we may pass on to the next generation a hereditary condition that may be dormant in our genes.

The Bible tells us we are created in the image of a perfect God. How can our bodies, with all their limitations, illnesses, and imperfections, reflect God’s image? Or do only the healthy, strong, and beautiful parts of us reflect God? The truth is, even the very best parts of us are not perfect. To be created in the image of God means that we as human beings are unique in our role of representing God to creation.

I have a friend who is a parent to an adult son born with profound inherited disabilities. She told me that her son reflects his Creator—at least for those with eyes willing to see his inherent dignity and worth. She was not speaking idealistically. She recognizes that though her son needs assistance for many of the tasks of daily living, from toileting to dressing himself, his limitations in no way diminish his ability to be an ambassador of his good and perfect Maker to a watching world.

While our medical histories may carry the imprint of the illnesses and brokenness of those who came before us, we also carry the DNA of our Creator. Our lives have immeasurable value because God gave us the most precious inheritance of all—the gift of life itself.

Pray: Dear God, when I consider what I know of my genetic history, I recognize that I have inherited a wide range of things, ranging from my eye color to medical challenges. I recognize that an even more profound reality is that you have given me the gift of life itself. Please show me this day what it means to represent and reflect you.