Cherishing my Family Heritage
My family has a cherished Adventist heritage. Our grandparents on my mum’s side in Iceland, were the first Seventh-day Adventists in our family lineage (most of whom were Lutherans) and we can trace it back to the year 780 AD!
On my dad’s side, our great-grand-parents were some of the first Seventh-day Adventists to be baptised in Mauritius in 1916-17 after French missionaries came and shared the gospel and the Three Angels’ messages! Those who were baptised in that first evangelism effort, lost their jobs along with many being banished from their families. Despite that hardship, there was and continues to be a huge emphasis on mission and service in my family. My great-grand-father became a lay pastor; my grandfather, Lewis Johnson, became a trained/ordained minister who worked in India, Seychelles, Mauritius, England and Canada; my father, Eddie Johnson worked in the Congo, Mauritius, Iceland, Canada, New Caledonia, New Zealand and still is working as a minister in Australia at the age of 81! His brother, Dr Karl Johnson, worked in Mauritius, Madagascar, Cameroon, France, Tahiti and Canada as a minister and teacher of ministers. My mother was women’s ministries director in New Caledonia, New Zealand Pacific Union Conference, Greater Sydney and the South Pacific Division.
With that long history of mission and service, I started out at university studying to be a doctor! I knew I was running from my calling and in my second year changed course to become the fourth generation of Seventh-day Adventist ministers on my Mauritian side. On the Icelandic side, I have an uncle and a cousin who are also pastors. Our entire lives have been imbued with the gospel, the Three Angels’ messages, our 28 meaningful beliefs and the historic, prophetic understanding that brings us hope amid the chaos this side of eternity.
But none of that personal history matters, as it does nothing to save me. It’s a spiritual legacy and a priceless inheritance, but it’s not salvific. I can’t enter the kingdom because of my parents or genealogy. Instead, the Bible says, those who “repent and are converted,” will receive the inheritance that brings blessings from on high for today, the near future and eternity (Acts 3:19). My family history doesn’t count and neither does yours. While the second commandment clearly states that genealogy has impact, each of us is personally responsible for our own spiritual journey with God! We need to leave our own spiritual legacy as disciples of the Almighty, acting as His stewards with His mission as our focus. You’ve already begun that legacy and “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it” (Philippians 1:6). You can be confident in that promise.
Verse of the day:
“He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it” Philippians 1:6 (NIV).
