I was looking at a photo of one of my nieces. She is a beautiful young lady. As I looked at her picture, I saw the eyes of my mother staring back at me. The DNA of a family line is strong. What is even stronger is our spiritual DNA. 

Our spiritual DNA does not bear physical manifestations. It becomes evident in times of personal crisis. You can hear its sound when someone teaches the Word or when speaking hope to a person experiencing an identity crisis. While the basic elements of this DNA are constant across all the Church, it does have a way of finding an expression that is unique to each family of fellowship.

Ultimately, the original deposit of our spiritual DNA can be traced back to the moment of our rebirth in Jesus Christ. All believers carry that initial deposit, but God placed each of us into spiritual families where we take on the unique characteristics of the family. These attributes of personality will show up in our spiritual offspring who will carry the discipleship traits we deposited in their lives. Hopefully, they will shed our mistakes and replace them with a greater revelation of truth than we carried.

One of the most meaningful compliments we can receive is not always spoken as a formal compliment when someone is being toasted at a public gathering. It happens when we hear our words re-crafted into the unique sound and calling of our spiritual sons and daughters. This is the beautifully sweet fruit of discipleship.