“Donnie . . . !,“ my husband speaks this one word to me often.

Donnie is my dad.

“What Letty . . . ?,” I reply to my husband—often.

Letty is my husband’s mother.

You are just like your dad.

You are just like your mom.

Oh, how many times have we looked across the dinner table and noticed the resemblance to our parents.

Oh, how many times have we looked at the other from across the room and noted an action, a comment, and a posture—thinking, my he is JUST LIKE HIS PARENTS.

Today, I exclaim, “Thank You, God, for this heritage.

This morning, when I began my time of prayer, I read through the names of foreign missionaries, and there among the list of names was the name of my dad—Don Dixon.

Although this missionary is clearly NOT my dad because my dad is deceased and has been for quite some time, the resemblance of name caused me to begin to ponder the importance of heritage, the importance of namesake, and the importance of passing down a spiritual heritage.

Thank You, God, we can grow up to become just like our parents.

Thank You, God, we can be born to share a DNA heritage.

Thank You, God, we can look in the mirror and see definitive qualities that identify us with those who came before us.

Thank You, God, we can say to the world—I belong to THIS FAMILY.

Thank You, God, that even when we are adopted into a family, we GROW INTO the familial “looks” & “actions” & “ways” of our new, adoptive family.

Thank You, God, that all DNA begins with YOU.

Do not read on any longer the words that I share but pause to read the Word of God.

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;  and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth;  and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;  male and female He created them.”

(Genesis 1: 26-27)

In God’s Image, we are created.

“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;  and man became a living being.

The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden;  and there He placed the man whom He had formed.”

(Genesis 2: 7-8)

From the dust of the earth and given the breath of God, we are created.

“Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone;  I will make him a helper suitable for him. . . .

So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept;  then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.

The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones,

And flesh of my flesh;

She shall be called Woman,

Because she was taken out of Man.”

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife;  and they shall become one flesh.”

(Genesis 2: 18 & 21-24)

So as not to be alone, we are created.

Family.

Belonging to a family is a gift, one gifted to us from God.

Consider.

Two individuals fall in love, decide to marry, and then decide to have children.

God blesses their union with one child, maybe two, maybe more.

Children.

Those children are born, and then those children grow into adults, who then marry, and who then make decisions to have children, thus producing grandchildren.

A Person.  A Male.

A Person.  A Female.

A Union.  A Marriage.  A Family.

A Child.  A Family of Three, or Four, or Five, or Six, or Seven, or Eight, Or Nine, Or . . . .

Parents have Children.

Children grow up and have Children.

Grandchildren grow up and have their own Children.

Great-Grandchildren grow up to have even more Children.

Great-Great-Grandchildren may even grow up and have Children.

On & On & On & On & On . . . .

Generations of Children.

Generations of heritage.

Generations of DNA passed on from great-grandparent to grandparent to parent to child.

Generations of heritage passed along from one person to another and then to another.

Generations of individuals passing through life, creating a family lineage.

FAMILY.

However, we must pause and consider the one who cannot birth a child.

I was such one.

For so long, we were a family of two, sad that God had not blessed us to become a family of three.

What about a family who cannot have children?

What about a family who decides to not have children but who instead decides to adopt a child?

What about a man and a wife who choose to love a child, one who was born of a different DNA?

What about a family who becomes a family in another way?

Are they still a family?

MOST DEFINITELY.  &

WE KNOW BECAUSE THE BIBLE TELLS US SO!   &

WE KNOW BECAUSE THAT’S EXACTLY HOW WE BECOME A CHILD OF GOD!

YES, WE KNOW—BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY—A MAN, A WOMAN, A BOY, AND A GIRL CAN—EVER—BECOME AN HEIR OF GOD!

We must be BORN into God’s Family!

Generations of children.

Generations of LOVE—Gifted to Us Through Jesus Christ, Who Gave His Life on the Cross of Calvary.

Generations of MERCY & GRACE—Gifted to Us Through Our Savior, Who Died, Who Was Buried for Three Days, & Who Resurrected to New Life.

Generations of GOD’S SALVATION—Gifted to Us Through God’s Infinite Love for His Creation.

Generations of GOD’S CHILDREN—Adopted into the FAMILY of GOD.

Generations of BELIEVERS—Accepted by God because of their Belief, Confession of Sin, & Redemption to Become a Child of God, of the King of Kings.

C.S. Lewis said, “We must lay before [God] what is in us, not what ought to be in us.”

Every man, woman, boy, and girl are born with a spiritual sickness.

Everyone is birthed into this world in need of the Savior, Jesus.

Every single person needs the Great Physician to create within us a “new” heart & a “new” identity & a “new” image—one that reflects the image of God.

Yes, my husband and I often tease one another, speaking of the way we look, act, and reflect our deceased parents.

Often, we see the other look or act in a particular way that reminds us of the other’s earthly parents.

Can the same be said about our Spiritual Heritage?

Once we give our heart to God, do we reflect the image of God in everything we say & do?

Once we are God’s child, do others see us and say, “He is most definitely a believer, a child of the Most High.”

Once we are God’s, do others see our actions and state, “She is most definitely God’s child.”

This weekend, my husband and I will celebrate our anniversary of marriage.

Thirty-six years of marriage +

Four more years of dating  +

Four more years of friendship  before the word “dating” even entered our heads.

To say that we know one another pretty well is quite the understatement.

To say that we know one another’s earthly heritage is quite the understatement as well.

Time together is something we have shared— my husband and me.

Can the same be said about our Spiritual Heritage.

Do others see us and know we spend time every day with our Father?

Do others hear our words and know we walk daily with our Savior?

Do others observe our actions and reactions—knowing most definitely that Jesus is our Redeemer?

Do others SEE us & SEE JESUS in Us?

Do others SEE us & SEE GOD?

Do others SEE us & SEE the Image of God Reflected in Us?

Do others SEE us & SEE our Spiritual Heritage?

The Bible is Truthful & Clear.  SEE with me.

“However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness [the righteousness of God].

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [if God dwells in us] He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you [that means God provides us “a newness of life” for our mortal bodies through His Salvation].”

(Romans 8: 9-11)

God gifts us with a Spiritual Heritage.

BUT

It is a choice we individually must make.

It is a decision—to accept God OR Not!

It is a “forever” & “eternal” decision!

Once we die, it will be too late to decide.

Once we are no longer alive, our eternity is fixed.

It is of paramount importance for every man, woman, boy, and girl !!!

“So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die;  but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

(Romans 8: 12-13)

Let us live for the world to SEE—Nobody but JESUS!

Let us live for the world to SEE—No one but the Reflection of God, alive in us.

Let us live for the world to SEE—Our Spiritual Heritage . . . A Gift & A Blessing from Almighty God.