Where Are You Going?

I don’t know much about my great-grandfather. His last name was Kirchner, and he died long before I was born. I only know what my parents told me— that he was born in Germany, was a member of a Lutheran church, and came to America sometime in the 1870s. There were no Lutheran churches in the area, so he joined a nearby Baptist church.

Years later, I ended up spending a semester in Germany as an exchange student.

“Wouldn’t it be neat if our families were somehow related?†I asked my host family.

It was possible but not probable. I knew so little about my great-grandfather. I didn’t even know what part of Germany he had come from. I researched the Lutheran denomination in Germany and, based on that, found out he was probably from the eastern part of Germany. I was a little disappointed he wasn’t from the same area as my host family, but it was even more crushing to learn what I found next.

For several years, the government of the eastern portion of Germany was communist, and it discouraged religion. After years of putting God in the background, that same region of Germany is now mostly atheist. I felt sad that the region my great-grandfather came from now has so many people who don’t know God. His heritage is my heritage.

Then it occurred to me: I am not my past. It doesn’t matter where we’ve been; it matters where we’re going. If we’re following God, it makes no difference if we’re sitting in the middle of nowhere or in our own living rooms. Our heritage is with Him. As a child of God through Christ, I know He loves me and He loved my great-grandfather. It doesn’t matter where my grandfather came from; the most important thing is that he loved Jesus and shared the good news with his family, allowing that truth to be passed down to me.

Where are you going? Are you walking with God? Do you know Him as your Savior? If so, your past doesn’t matter. You are an heir to a rich heritage in Christ! • Rebecca Linam

• What about your family’s heritage are you proud of? What would you rather change and why?

• Reread today’s Scripture passages. What does it mean to have a heritage in Christ?

• To learn more about having a heritage in Christ, check out our “Know Jesus” page.

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3:29 (NIV)

Read Verses:

Romans 8:14-17; Galatians 3:26-29