A week ago, I was struck by a thought.

When overseas, I was always told to never say "I grew up a Christian."
I understood why-- because people will immediately think "then of course you believe, it's how you were raised to believe." It was never an issue to address, but last week while sitting at starbucks I heard someone justifying their faith by saying the words, "well that's how I was raised."

It's not a reason. It's NOT a reason why you believe what you believe. I don't care what anyone says, it should not be a part of the reason.


I believe in ancient work, and I believe that my parents and my family poured a lot into me that caused me to draw toward Christ as he captured my heart, but I didn't believe because of how I was raised.

I've been thinking about making this post for the past week, how to phrase it, how to couple words together to get this thought from my brain into tangible words. I want to mention Timothy and the ancient work of his mother and grandmother which drew him to Christ but he didn't follow Christ because of 'how he was raised.' Christ extremely and 100% captured his heart and changed his life. I could go into greater detail but my stomach is churning and my mind is racing.

I do not believe in Jesus because of how I was raised. I believe in Jesus because he took me from depths of despair in my life and showed me how he offers true life. He did that through situations, as well as through his word in the bible and through mentors who poured encouragement into my heart.

The God of the Bible is the real, true, living God, and I believe in him, not because of how I was raised, but because he is real.