"But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12-13
Several years ago, Terri and I became interested in exploring our ancestry. So, after a lot of research, coupled with visiting the locations where our ancestors lived, we were able to document a lengthy family tree, and in many cases the roots were in Europe.
One of those lines we followed was my Armstrong line, which reached back to my third great grandfather, James Armstrong who was born in Ireland on June 17,1767 and immigrated to Washington County, near what is now Pittsburgh, PA in about 1798.
Now, as some of you may know the name Armstrong belongs to a Scottish Clan who lived along the English, Scottish border, and when they weren’t fighting with the English, or Scots, they were fighting with each other. I won’t go into how James ended up immigrating to Ireland because it involves a long discussion about the Scots/Irish issue, and also because we were unable find any history that told use why. But suffice it to say that James’ last name was Armstrong so his family somehow came from Scotland via Ireland and ended up in eastern Pennsylvania.
About five years ago I decided to dig deeper into my paternal DNA, so I decided to take a YDNA test, which follows the male line from father to grandfather, to great grandfather and so on back many generations, knowing full well, I was about to uncover why I loved the Scottish brogue, bagpipe music and guys marching dressed in full Scottish attire playing Amazing Grace or Skye Boat on their bagpipes… And have the bagpipes playing Amazing Grace as my cellphone ringtone. (Which brought me to a recent point of embarrassment when I forgot to silence it while in Church a couple of Sundays ago. So, I must apologize to Pastor Jon and those in attendance for this disruptive error.)
So you can imagine my shock when I opened the envelope from the DNA testing company and found what I always thought I was… I wasn’t! I am Scandinavian! How in the world could someone with the ancestral name of Armstrong, whose ancestor immigrated from Scotland via Ireland to Western Pennsylvania be from Norway/Sweden/Finland! And they say DNA never lies!
Anyway, it took me a while to wrap my mind around how this was even possible. But after a lot of research involving the Vikings and their seafaring activities around Scotland, Ireland and England and the rest of Europe during 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries, I came to understand of how it might have happened… However, it might have been a little easier to swallow and less shocking if I had been born with a last name like Larson or Swenson.
But with all that said, that’s not really my true paternal DNA. That can best be described as CoGDNA, or in other words, Child of God DNA, because all of us who are His children have been given the right to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle John tells us in John 1:12-13, “all who did receive Him [Jesus], who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."
The Apostle John also tells us in John 6:39-40 that “this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day.”
Isn’t that fantastic news!! Once you’re indwelled with God’s DNA you will never lose it, and that leads to eternal life with Him!
So don’t be concerned with what might be your earthly DNA, that’s of little value. However, being indwelled with God’s DNA is immeasurably greater… it never changes and lasts forever! PRAISE GOD!!... Plus I can keep my Amazing Grace ringtone.