Today's Devotional

October 18, 2004

Subject:  Genes Or Routines?

Deuteronomy 24:16 - "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin."

You can't turn on the TV these days without hearing the news that scientists have discovered a gene that is responsible for everything from why someone committed murder to why a person can't lose that extra pound of weight.  So just as I was once again giving my pitch for "The Charleston Plan," someone remarked, "you've just got incredible genes."  I hear that a lot and the people are usually referring to me as a genetic freak who is able to eat anything he wants, but believing that it has no effect on my weight or health because God has given me some special gene that scientists have yet to discover.  Of course nothing could be further from the truth.  A piece of fried bacon does to me exactly what it does to 99% of the population.  It adds fat and pounds.  However, what affects that bacon somewhat differently in my body compared to a lot of other people are the habits that I have picked up over the years.

Today, many people use their parents, grandparents and everyone else in their ancestry to explain what is happening in their lives.  Bad conduct in school or bad grades on a report card, infidelity with a spouse or lying to get a job, these are examples of things I've heard people relate to being something a person "got honestly."  Without diminishing the role that genes do in fact play some aspects of our lives, much of it is pure hogwash.  The reason we do much of what we do is that we are affected by the people we grow up with.  It's not so much the genes as it is the habits that we pick up from those around us.  We eat what our parents eat.  We talk like our parents talk and literally and figuratively, we often walk like our parents walk.  

The bible makes clear though, that each man or woman is responsible for who he is.  Each of us has the responsibility for pursuing God and living unto Him.  I can't blame my mom and dad for my poor disposition because I can know God for myself and He desires to relate to me personally, not on the basis of whose line I descended from.  So today, understand that it's not the genes, it's the routines.  Change your habits and you'll change your life.

 Carlen