Your Origin Story
We live in a crazy world–one that’s full of distractions pulling us away from the truth of God’s word. Living in a fallen world, how do we raise families, strengthen marriages, and build friendships in a way that pleases and honors the Lord? Over the course of the last month, we as a church have navigated through the Intentional Family series where we’ve focused on ways to build strong families, the importance of intentionality, and how to be a reflection of God.
As we dive into the 4th and final message of our February series, Eric Jones brings an encouraging word that highlights our place in the family of God in his message Your Origin Story. We discover what it truly means to be a child of God and see the depth of God’s love for us as He’s adopted us into his family by the blood of Jesus Christ. We see God’s plan for His family in two foundational verses:
Ephesians 1:3-5 (NLT) 3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
Romans 8:15-17 (NLT) 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father." 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children.
17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory…
How do We Understand our New Origin Story?
In his message, Your Origin Story, at timestamp 8:27 Eric Jones shares an helpful illustration in understanding what an origin story is and how it pertains to us (not just Spiderman!). At the core of every superhero is an origin story. And at the core of us, there’s an origin story, too.
Your origin story is the foundation for how you became who you are. It’s the backstory of how our identity was shaped and formed and developed. Your origin story determines what drives and motivates and inspires you and influences your framework for decision making.
For many of us, our origin story is knitted within our family of origin; our sense of identity and our understanding of the world is rooted in our upbringing. Whether we grew up in a household full of love, protection, care and where words of encouragement were spoken over us or we grew up in a household filled with challenges, pain, rejection, and disapproval…we are all given a new origin story when we become part of God’s family.
In alignment with God’s plan for the world, we were never meant to develop our identity from our biological family of origin; we’re meant to develop our identity from our new adopted family in God.
2 Corinthian 5:17 (NKJV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
We have to go through the process of learning to see ourselves as the people God says we are. We have a new family in Him; a new origin story, a new core sense of being. We are part of the family of God!
In Christ, our identity is not found in our family of origin but in our true origin story.
In Your Origin Story, Eric Jones shares 3 founding principles in understanding our origin story to help us grasp our new identity in Christ and define ourselves as Children of God. Jot down these 3 principles and place a sticky note on your fridge or bathroom mirror to daily remind yourself who you are in God’s family!
Discussion:
In what ways has your biological family of origin influenced your identity?
What chains have you broken in letting go of your old identity and embracing your new origin story as a child of God?
How is your true origin story shaping your identity as you intentionally build your family?
1. We were Created
The first thing we need to grasp when it comes to understanding our true origin story is that we were created intentionally by the Creator.
Genesis 1:27 (NKJV) So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
The two main takeaways from this verse are this:
- a) We were created in God’s image and
- b) We were created with intention.
a) We were created in God’s image
We are a literal image of God in this world. It’s pivotal to our Christian understanding of God, ourselves, and how to operate on earth. The purpose of an image is not to be the thing; the purpose of an image is to mirror or reflect the thing. In Your Origin Story at timestamp 17:16, Eric illustrates this principle for us with a personal example of his daughter.
Being created in God’s image doesn’t mean we are God, it means we’re to reflect Him on earth. His traits, His qualities, His attributes have been uniquely woven into the fabric of our individual DNA; part of God is in us and we are called to reveal His image to those around us. To help us understand how we should mirror God, Pastor Jeff Jones shares 7 ways to be a reflection of God in part 3 of our Intentional Family series.
Understanding that we are created in God’s image gives us an innate sense of purpose. Our purpose is simple: Be the image of God. We were created on purpose, with a purpose, and for a purpose. This is the core of our origin story.
b) We were created with intention
We were created on purpose, with a purpose, and for a purpose. This is the core of our origin story.
Psalms 139:13-16 (NLT) 13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous-how well I know it. 15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
Each and every single part of our being was handcrafted by God–our oddities, the things that make us weird and different and goofy–our loving heavenly Father intentionally created those attributes. We are built by purposeful design. We are not accidents, we are not mistakes. We are a unique craftsmanship of the Most High God. This is our identity. This is the truth of who we are as believers.
Discussion:
In what ways can you live as an image of God?
What does it look like for you to mirror Him in your daily life?
Have you ever wondered what your purpose is? How does Psalms 139:13-16 change your view of your purpose?
2. We are Loved
Ephesians 1:4 (NLT) Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
Our true origin story, the one God’s given us, is a story of love. We are loved by love itself!
Before we ever did anything, before God even made the world, before we had time to prove ourselves to Him–He already loved us. May the truth of this verse never get old to us:
John 3:16 (NLT) For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Acknowledging that God loves us may sound simple, but oftentimes we face the challenge of getting this information from head-knowledge to heart-knowledge. We struggle to innately believe about ourselves and feel and experience that God loves us wholly and fully.
We live in a performance-based world where we’re constantly told that if we do well, then we receive love once we prove ourselves worthy. The world we live in treats love like a commodity. That’s how the world works…but it’s NOT how God works. Amen!
Ephesians 3:17-19 (AMP) 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith. And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love, 18 be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love [fully experiencing that amazing, endless love]; 19 and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself].
God’s love has width and depth and volume – it’s a 4D love. We experience it every single day, we live it, we know it, we believe that our God who created us loves us unconditionally and without end. But how do we experience God’s love and make it real to us? Eric Jones sheds light on that question in Your Origin Story at timestamp 27:50…listen in and be encouraged! When you need to be reminded of the way God loves you, listen to this song and embed the words into your heart.
Discussion:
Understanding God’s love comforts us when we feel unlovable. When in your life has God revealed His perfect love to you in your time of need?
How does God’s love impact the way we love the members of our family?
3. We were Adopted
Ephesians 1:5 (NLT) God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
Galatians 4:5-7 (NLT) 5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father." 7 Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.
We are all slaves to our own sinful nature, slaves to the law, but Jesus came and set us free. On top of that, He then adopted us and embraced us as part of His own family. Praise the Lord! In Roman culture, this is the meaning of adoption:
An adopted son was deliberately chosen by his adoptive father to perpetuate his name and inherit his estate; he had no inferior status to a legitimate son born in the family. Under Roman adoption, the life and standing of the adopted child changed completely. The adopted son lost all rights in his old family and gained all new rights in his new family; the old life of the adopted son was completely wiped out, with all debts being canceled, with nothing from his past counting against him any more.
In the same way, we have been adopted by God and brought into His family to be His children. He hasn’t just given us a seat at the table; He’s given us the keys to His kingdom. Even here on earth, we have the rights and privileges God bestowed on us in the Bible. We can come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and to find grace to help in our times of need.
Our relationship with our heavenly Father is intimate; we’re close to Him. Understanding our true origin story is like getting superpowers! Remember: We were created. We are loved. We were adopted. Regardless of the challenges, struggles, and temptations we face, God loves us, He cares for us, we are His children. Amen!
Prayer:
Lord, we love you. We love your word and we pray that it would be illuminated to our hearts that we could learn and grow in understanding of our origin story. Thank you for speaking to our hearts and for healing bodies and breaking chains as only you can. We are hungry for you, Lord! Help us lean into your word with fresh, open hearts and plant your word in our hearts to carry with us throughout the week. In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.
