The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

1 John 3:9-11, “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another…”

DNA may well have been the discovery of Friedrich Miescher in 1869, but I remember when it was big news on the cover of LIFE Magazine in 1953. More important still is the fact that DNA existed in humanity thousands of years before it was scientifically discovered.

DNA consists of 23 pairs of chromosomes that originate from the father and mother of the child. Height, build, eye color and numerous traits in every person come from the parents.

Long before the Apostle John’s lifetime, human beings had DNA that was peculiar to each of them. Yet, John spoke of the character traits of the children of God –traits that can only come from God to identify those who are His.

How many times has someone said, “You’re just like your Dad!”? The reference may have been said with regard to appearance or to attitude; but the characteristic was evident!

That’s what it’s like to be a child of God. The characteristics (DNA) in our lives are the characteristics in the life of Jesus Christ. If Christ’s characteristics are not found in our lives, we don’t belong to Him! It’s that simple.

Cain killed Abel out of jealousy, and killings have increased in the world ever since. When we are born spiritually of God, we receive, as it were, His DNA. He is love, so His children love others, just as He loved them. The practice of loving bespeaks our being in Him. When we practice sinning, we look like the devil instead of looking like Christ. The old nature –the one we inherited from Adam—is still there, begging us to indulge in a bit of sin. But the result is like drinking alcohol. “Man takes a drink. Drink takes a drink. And drink takes the man.”

When we love others, we are not sinning. But when we despise or hate others, we are stifling the love of the Father. Like everything else –we have to train ourselves as to how we are to behave to the glory of our Heavenly Father.

Trust and obey,

For there’s no other way;

To be happy in Jesus;

But, to trust and obey.

Our prayers are that we all may learn to love and trust Him daily,

Nana & Dado III

(Rose Marie & Gene)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”