My Father's Genes - Part V - The Delivery System continued

In Parts I – IV, we reviewed the Biblical background that established the connection between human birth, sin, and the need to be born again. The discussion then laid the foundation for examining the scientific and genetic principles involved in human birth and introduced the principles involved in delivering the life- giving/life changing elements needed in the spiritual realm. We now continue this in Part V.

The Delivery System - Continued

When we have reached the point of God’s convicting word reaching our willing and open mind and heart and we “confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9 NIV) It is important to be able to recognize God’s convicting word. Oswald Chambers states strongly:

“…conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit blots out every relationship on earth and makes us aware of only one—‘Against You, You only, have I sinned …’ (Psalm 51:4). When a person is convicted of sin in this way, he knows with every bit of his conscience that God would not dare to forgive him. If God did forgive him, then this person would have a stronger sense of justice than God. God does forgive, but it cost the breaking of His heart with grief in the death of Christ to enable Him to do so. The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. Once we have been convicted of sin, we will never say this again. The love of God means
Calvary—nothing less! The love of God is spelled out on the Cross and nowhere else. The only basis for which God can forgive me is the Cross of Christ. It is there that His conscience is satisfied.”1

Just as in human conception, this is the point at which the “sperm” of God’s DNA enters the “egg” of our ready spirit and our spiritual membrane hardens against the things of Satan and this world; our mind, body and spirit are now tuned in to God and His desires for us and we begin to learn and grow as Christians. This is the “crisis experience”, the “moment of conversion”, the “know-so” anchor of our faith. Our Christian life now begins. We are “born again”! And just as in human life, we begin our growth, first with baby food (Paul called it milk in his first letter to the Corinthians) and then food of more substance as we enjoy our Christian growth. In a later Part we will look in more detail at God’s DNA.

Oswald Chambers continues:

“Forgiveness means that I am forgiven into a newly created relationship which identifies me with God in Christ. The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the Holy One. He does this by putting into me a new nature, the nature of Jesus Christ.”1

C. S. Lewis, is his book titled “Miracles” states:

“…if it is, as the theologians say, ‘born again,’ if it surrenders itself back to God in Christ, it will then have a life which is absolutely Supernatural, which is not created at all but begotten...”

John, in the first chapter of his Gospel, records that Jesus “…came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:11-13)

Chambers frequently refers to “the Supernatural Grace of God”. Lewis, in his book “Miracles”, has a useful definition of “supernatural”. Actually, it isn’t so much a definition, in a dictionary sense, as it is a rather long homily developing the idea that the supernatural exists only in the realm of God, not in the realm of man or nature as we know it and believe God created it. Thus when we see the supernatural it is an act or condition bestowed by God from His realm to ours and not otherwise available to us. Therefore, the term “supernatural grace of God” further illuminates the generally accepted definition of “the grace of God” as the unmerited favor of God; i.e. not available to us through any human means, but only through a unilateral decision of God for His own reasons. We joyfully and deliciously bask in His grace even as we are thankful for it, knowing we have done nothing to earn or deserve it. When we are tempted to view God’s bounteous gifts as the fruits of our own labor, let us remember that it is God Himself who gave us the ability and the circumstances to produce those fruits. This may help us catch a glimpse of the unfathomable supernatural grace of God in sending His Son to provide a way for our salvation.

1 Oswald Chambers, in his book My Utmost For His Highest (Oswald Chambers Publications Association, copyright 1963)

In the next Part, we will begin examining what, if any, relationship or comparison exists between human and spiritual DNA.